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 head coach is Adel Amrouche from Algeria. They are colloquially known as the Taifa Stars. 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.
Tanzania is currently ranked 121st in the FIFA World Rankings.[3]
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.[citation needed]
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.[citation needed]
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.[citation needed]
The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.
Win Draw Loss Fixture
Bert Trautmann (1975)
Geoff Hudson (1977–1979).svg/1280px-Flag_of_Poland_(1928%E2%80%931980).svg.png){kind=small}
Sławomir Wolk (1979–1980)[4]
Mahammed Msomali (1980–1981) Rudi Gutendorf (1981)
Joseph Bendera (1981–1985)[5] Paul West (1985–1989)[6] Charles Boniface Mkwasa (1989–1992) Kayuni Sunday (1993–1995)[7]
Clóvis de Oliveira (1995–1996) Badru Hafidh (1996–1998) Sylersaid Mziray (1998–1999)[8] Mansour Magram (1999–00) Burkhard Pape (2000–01) Mshindo Msolla (2001–02)
James Siang'a (2002) Mshindo Msolla (2002–03) Badru Hafidh (2003–06) Júlio César Leal (2006) Márcio Máximo (2006–10)
Jan Poulsen (2010–12) Kim Poulsen (2012–14) Salum Madadi (2014)
Mart Nooij (2014–2015) Charles Boniface Mkwasa (2015–2017) Salum Mayanga (2017–2018)
Emmanuel Amunike (2018–2019)
Etienne Ndayiragije (2019–2021) Kim Poulsen (2021–2022)
Honour Janza (2022) Dean Alty (2022) Kim Poulsen (2022–2023)
Adel Amrouche (2023–2024) Hemed Morocco (2024–)The following 27 players were called up for 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.[9]
Caps and goals correct as of 7 January 2024, after the match against DR Congo.
The following players have been called up for Tanzania in the last 12 months.
