The Tanzania national football team formed in 1930. The team affiliated to both FIFA and the Confederation of African Football in 1964. Tanzania has never qualified for a world cup. The team had played as Tanganyika, before uniting with Zanzibar. Since the union, Zanzibar has retained a team but it does not have full FIFA membership and so cannot enter a world cup.
Football is a popular sport in Tanzania, by far the most played in the country. The Tanzanian Premier League has run since 1965, the two top teams – Simba Sports Club and Young Africans Sports Club – have won nearly every year between them. Despite this, the national team has found little success.
The first international match Tanzania played was an inauspicious 7-0 defeat to Uganda in 1945. The team surpassed this scoreline in 1956 when Tanzania lost 9-0 to Kenya. The team’s biggest win was a 7-0 defeat of Somalia in 1995. Tanzania has qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations once, in 1980, where they exited in the first round.
Ranked 113th by FIFA, the Tanzania national football team will need a huge surge of success to improve their place.
World cup 2018
Fixtures to be announced.
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