Tanzania national football team

Tanzania
Nickname(s)	Taifa Stars
Association	Tanzania Football Federation
Confederation	CAF (Africa)
Sub-confederation	CECAFA (East & Central Africa)
Head coach	Etienne Ndayiragije
Captain	Mbwana Samatta
Most caps	Mrisho Ngasa (100)
Top scorer	Mrisho Ngasa (25)
Home stadium	National Stadium
FIFA code	TAN
FIFA ranking
Current	135 (10 December 2020)
Highest	65 (February 1995)
Lowest	175 (October–November 2005)
First international
	Uganda 7–0 Tanganyika ; (Uganda; 1945)
Biggest win
	Tanzania 7–0 Somalia ; (Jinja, Uganda; December 1, 1995) ; Tanzania 7–0 Somalia ; (Kampala, Uganda; December 1, 2012)
Biggest defeat
	Tanganyika 0–9 Kenya ; (Tanganyika; 1956)
Africa Cup of Nations
Appearances	2 (first in 1980)
Best result	Group stage (1980 and 2019)

The Tanzania national football team (Swahili: Timu ya Taifa ya Mpira wa Miguu ya Tanzania) represents Tanzania in men's international football and is controlled by the Tanzania Football Federation, the governing body for football in Tanzania, Tanzania's home ground is Benjamin Mkapa National Stadium in Dar-es-Salaam and their interim head coach is Etienne Ndayiragije from Burundi. Tanzania has never qualified for the FIFA World Cup. Before uniting with Zanzibar, the team played as the Tanganyika national football team, The team represents both FIFA and Confederation of African Football (CAF).

The island of Zanzibar, part of Tanzania (and once an independent nation), is also an associate member of CAF and has played matches with other nations, but is not eligible to enter the World Cup or Africa Cup of Nations. See Zanzibar national football team.

History

Since qualifying for the 1980 Africa Cup of Nations, Tanzania endured nearly 40 years without major success, struggling in both African and World Cup qualifiers. Their best effort was in 2008 Africa Cup of Nations qualification, where the Taifa Stars defeated Burkina Faso twice and only finished three points behind group winners Senegal. In 2010 Tanzania won the CECAFA Cup for the third time.

A recent achievement was a 1–0 win against South Africa in the 2017 COSAFA Cup Quarter-finals. But afterwards, Tanzania lost the Semi-finals 2–4 to Zambia. Then, in the Third-place playoff, Tanzania managed to win the match against Lesotho 4–2 in a penalty shootout after the extra time ended in a goalless draw. This Third place was considered Tanzania's biggest football achievement in many years.

On 24 March 2019, Tanzania beat East African rivals Uganda 3–0 to reach the finals of the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time in 39 years. At the Finals the Taifa Stars, being the weakest team in the group, lost all three Group C matches as predicted. A few months later, Tanzania qualified for the African Nations Championship for only the second time, as well as defeating Burundi in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.

Honours

CECAFA Cup :

3 Times Champion (1974, 1994, 2010)
5 Times Runners-up (1973, 1980, 1981, 1992, 2002)

Competitive record

World Cup record

FIFA World Cup record									FIFA World Cup Qualification record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1930 to 1970	Did not enter								Did not enter
1974	Did not qualify								3	0	2	1	1	4
1978	Withdrew								Withdrew
1982	Did not qualify								4	1	1	2	7	6
1986	Did not qualify								2	0	2	0	1	1
1990	Did not enter								Did not enter
1994	Withdrew during qualifying								Withdrew during qualifying
1998	Did not qualify								2	0	1	1	1	2
2002									2	0	0	2	2	4
2006									2	0	1	1	0	3
2010									6	2	2	2	9	6
2014									8	3	0	5	10	14
2018									4	1	1	2	4	10
2022	To be determined								To be determined
2026	To be determined								To be determined
Total		0/21							33	7	10	16	35	50

Africa Cup of Nations record

Africa Cup of Nations
Appearances: 2
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1957	Not affiliated to CAF
1959
1962
1963
1965
1968	Withdrew during qualifying
1970	Did not qualify
1972
1974
1976
1978
1980	Group stage	7th	3	0	1	2	3	6
1982	Withdrew
1984	Did not qualify
1986	Withdrew during qualifying
1988	Did not qualify
1990
1992
1994	Withdrew during qualifying
1996	Did not qualify
1998
2000
2002
2004	Withdrew during qualifying
2006	Did not qualify
2008
2010
2012
2013
2015
2017
2019	Group stage	24th	3	0	0	3	2	8
2021	To be determined
2023
2025
Total	Group stage	2/32	6	0	1	5	5	14

African Nations Championship record

African Nations Championship
Appearances: 1
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
2009	Group stage	5th	3	1	1	1	2	2
2011	Did not qualify
2014
2016
2018
2020	Group stage	10th	3	1	1	1	3	4
2022	To be determined
Total	Group stage	2/6	6	2	2	2	5	6

African Games

Football at the African Games has been an under-23 tournament since 1991.

African Games Record
Year	Result	GP	W	D	L	GS	GA
1965	-	0	0	0	0	0	0
1973	-	0	0	0	0	0	0
1978	-	0	0	0	0	0	0
1987	-	0	0	0	0	0	0
1991–present	See Tanzania national under-23 football team
Total	4/4	0	0	0	0	0	0

Gossage Cup / CECAFA Cup

Recent results and fixtures

Win Draw Loss

The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

2020

11 October Friendly	Tanzania	0–1	Burundi	Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
			Ntibazonkiza 85'	Stadium: National Stadium

13 November 2021 AFCONQ	Tunisia	1–0	Tanzania	Radès, Tunisia
20:00 UTC+1	Msakni 18' (pen.)	Report		Stadium: Stade Olympique de Rades Referee: Helder Martins de Carvalho (Angola)

17 November 2021 AFCONQ	Tanzania	1–1	Tunisia	Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
22:00 UTC+3	Salum 48'	Report	Khaoui 11'	Stadium: National Stadium Referee: Celso Alvação (Mozambique)

2021

22 March 2021 AFCONQ	Equatorial Guinea	v	Tanzania
--:-- UTC+1

30 March 2021 AFCONQ	Tanzania	v	Libya
--:-- UTC+3

Players

Current squad

The following 23 players were selected for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification against Tunisia.^[3]

Caps and goals updated as of 13 November 2020 after the game against Tunisia.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	GK	Juma Kaseja	13 April 1985	71	0	KMC
13	GK	Metacha Mnata	25 November 1998	3	0	Young Africans
18	GK	Aishi Manula	13 September 1995	34	0	Simba
30	GK	David Kisu	5 August 1997	2	0	Azam

2	DF	Abdalla Kheri	11 November 1996	2	0	Azam
3	DF	David Brayson		0	0	KMC
4	DF	Erasto Nyoni	7 May 1988	90	6	Simba
5	DF	Bakari Mwamnyeto	5 November 1997	10	0	Young Africans
15	DF	Mohamed Husseini	1 November 1996	20	0	Simba
21	DF	Shomari Kapombe	28 January 1992	64	1	Simba
23	DF	Iddy Nado	3 November 1995	8	0	Azam
24	DF	Abdalla Haji Shaibu	21 October 1998	0	0	Young Africans

6	MF	Feisal Salum	11 January 1998	8	0	Young Africans
7	MF	Himid Mao	15 November 1992	53	1	ENPPI
12	MF	Simon Msuva	2 October 1993	58	11	Difaâ El Jadidi
14	MF	Raphael Bocco (captain)	5 August 1989	67	14	Simba
16	MF	Saidi Ndemla	11 March 1996	16	1	Simba
19	MF	Mzamiru Yassin	3 January 1996	24	0	Simba
20	MF	Jonas Mkude	3 December 1992	30	0	Simba

8	FW	Adam Adam		0	0	JKT Ruvu Stars
9	FW	Ditram Nchimbi	10 March 1997	10	1	Young Africans
11	MF	Deus Kaseke	27 August 1994	7	0	Young Africans
17	FW	Faridi Mussa	21 June 1995	27	0	Young Africans

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up for Tanzania in the last 12 months.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up


MF	Salum Abubakar	26 August 1992	43	1	Azam	v. Tunisia, 13 November 2020

FW	Mbwana Samatta^INJ	7 January 1992	55	20	Fenerbahçe	v. Burundi, 11 October 2020
^DEC Player refused to join the team after the call-up. ^INJ Player withdrew from the squad due to an injury. ^PRE Preliminary squad. ^RET Player has retired from international football. ^SUS Suspended from the national team.