Karia drums for Ali Hassan Mwinyi Stadium upgrade

TABORA: THE Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) President Wallace Karia unveiled that there is a need to improve Ali Hassan Mwinyi Stadium in Tabora region to make it conducive and suitable to host international games.

Karia made the call recently when he paid a visit to the Tabora Regional Commissioner (RC), Paul Chacha, disclosing to him that it was high time for the authority to have a keen look on how to further upgrade the stadium.

“As a federation, let me congratulate Tabora residents…according to the statistics we have, it is one of the stadiums that attract many spectators excluding Simba and Young Africans games. ”

And this big turnout was still available when their team was featured in the Championship League campaign before being promoted to the Premier League… this is a big thing. ”

As such, we should now look at the possibilities on how to upgrade this stadium because currently, in terms of carrying capacity, it is the second after Benjamin Mkapa Stadium. ”

The coming of Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), will make it easier for us to organise different international games here, so we will continue to work together with the region’s authorities to see how we can facelift the stadium,” Karia said.

On his part, RC Chacha pledged that next season, Tabora United will be a difficult side to beat and cautioned giants Simba, Yanga and Azam not to expect an easy ride when facing them.

“We are going to regroup and show Tanzanians how competitive our team will be and the good thing is that our people here like football a lot and I urge them to continue supporting their team as they normally do,” he said.

Tabora United who use the Ali Hassan Mwinyi Stadium as their home turf in their Premier League assignments narrowly escaped relegation last season after producing a 2-1 aggregate win over Championship League side Biashara United in Play-off matches.

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The first leg at Karume Stadium in Mara saw Biashara United claiming a 1-0 victory but in the reverse leg clash at Ali Hassan Mwinyi Stadium, Tabora United recorded a 2-0 triumph.

The outcome was enough to see them resurfacing in the contest next season giving their fans another opportunity to watch live league matches in their region. Meanwhile, renovations at Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam continue, which is one of the stadiums to be used during the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) finals.

The other venue being constructed in Arusha (Samia Suluhu Hassan Stadium) will also be used for the AFCON games not forgetting the New Amaan Sports Complex in Zanzibar.

Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda won the privilege to jointly host the AFCON finals, and each country is required to have three FIFA and CAF-authorised stadiums to be able to host the encounters.