Tanzania faces challenging task to build formidable Stars squad for 2027 Afcon finals

Dar es Salaam. The government has asked the Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) to develop a solid technical programme that will produce players for the national team, Taifa Stars, which will compete in the Afcon finals in 2027.

In an interview with The Citizen yesterday, Ally Mayay, Director of Sports Development at the Ministry of Culture, Arts, and Sports, stated that Taifa Stars has already qualified for the finals, but the challenge now is to prepare a good team that would represent the country well in the competition.

Mayay said it is a given that few, if any, of the present Taifa Stars players will be available for the 2027 Afcon finals.

“I instruct TFF’s technical director, Oscar Mirambo, to begin focusing on new players who will make the country proud during the finals. Hosting the finals is an opportunity, but competing successfully is another task on which we must now focus. We have already qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations finals in Ivory Coast in 2024. We must have extremely solid strategic strategies for the next generation of players. We must concentrate on cutlery in the competition,” Mayay added.

Aside from that, Mayay said that the competition would be held at three different locations across the country.

He mentioned the stadiums as Benjamin Mkapa in Dar es Salaam, Amaan Stadium in Zanzibar, and Arusha Stadium, which is now under construction.

According to Mayay, Arusha’s new stadium in Mlongoine’s Olmoti area will have 30,000 seats.

He said the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium is nearly complete and will soon host Caf’s new African Football League (AFL).

“In the stadium, we only have one task, and that is Arusha Stadium.” Amaan Stadium is being built and will be ready soon.

“We are also rich in training grounds that would be improved,” he said. Mayay also explained that Tanzania has many five-star hotels that meet the criteria as per the bid.

“Arusha Region has many five-star hotels; Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar also have five-star hotels. We are also proud of having good infrastructure, the best hospitals, and others. This is to say that we had prepared well before, and winning the bid was fair and square. Basically, Tanzania has been prepared for that,” he said.