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TPLB urges clubs to speed up licensing

TPLB Chief Executive Officer, Almasi Kasongo

DAR ES SALAAM: THE Tanzania Premier League Board (TPLB) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Almasi Kasongo admitted that implementation of club licensing is unfolding at a slow pace in the country.

He said this yesterday in Dar es Salaam, while insisting that from the next season, the club licensing committee will be keen to enforcing it for full implementation.

“As you know, FIFA always come up with new regulations upon thorough investigations and research…in 2006, FIFA introduced club licensing from a Congress held in Germany.

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“Its introduction meant that all the members associations in all continents should adopt it and based on the research, they were fully assured that when completely implemented; it will address challenges facing football in the world.

“They insisted that many challenges facing the game of football can only be sorted out if the club licensing is 100 per cent implemented in five critical areas,” Kasongo said.

In response to the TPLB Chairperson’s call, the ‘Daily News’ reached out to the national envoys in the CAF interclub competitions, including Simba, Young Africans, Azam and Coastal Union, to inquire about their current status.

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Simba’s Media and Communication Officer, Ahmed Ally, stated, “Club licensing is a mandatory requirement that we must meet before the deadline set by CAF. “

To obtain club licensing, each club must fulfill all the mandatory minimum requirements set by the CAF.

This includes having appropriate infrastructure, both women and youth teams, proper knowledge and good corporate governance and control.”

He also confirmed that the officials responsible for assessing these requirements have already completed their examination.

In May this year CAF announced that all participating clubs in the 2024/2025 InterClub competitions must have their licensing update on or before the 31st of May. CAF also said they should clear all their debts.

However, according to the latest update from the headquarters of CAF in Cairo, Egypt, the body extended the date to the 22nd of June, 2024.

Further Kasongo mentioned sporting criteria as one of the fundamental areas of club licensing, adding that it requires clubs to have a detailed youth programme as well as having different age categories of youth teams.