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Centered on a case study of the political downfall of Denis Obua, a long-serving president of the Ugandan Football Association, FUFA, this article explores the complicated and murky relationship between the state, ostensibly non-political societal organizations such as FUFA, and international institutions through an examination of the microcosm of football. It argues that FUFA belongs to a larger class of liminal organizations that fit comfortably under neither of the broad rubrics of contemporary political analysis—state and civil society. Employing an older term, I argue that FUFA is a polity. Neither fully of the state nor of civil society, FUFA (and other polities such as chieftaincies, kingdoms, corporations, or religious organizations) exists in a liminal position that further blurs the analytic distinction between state and civil society. Such polities may contribute to a different sort of political pluralism in everyday politics.