The Tanzania national football team ( sw, Timu ya Taifa ya Mpira wa Miguu ya Tanzania) represents

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

in men's international

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

and is controlled by the

Tanzania Football Federation The Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) ( sw, Shirikisho la Mpira wa Miguu Tanzania), previously the Football Association of Tanzania, is the governing body of football in Tanzania. It oversees operations of the Tanzania national football team, Ta ...

, the governing body for

football in Tanzania The Tanzania Football Federation is the governing body mandated to run The sport of football in Tanzania. It oversees the national football team, Premier League,the Championship, First League,Regional Champions League,Youth U20 League and the Yo ...

, Tanzania's home ground is

Benjamin Mkapa National Stadium Tanzania National Main Stadium also known as Benjamin Mkapa Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium located in Miburani ward of Temeke District in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. It opened in 2007 and was built adjacent to Uhuru Stadium, the former national ...

Dar-es-Salaam Dar es Salaam (; from ar, دَار السَّلَام, Dâr es-Selâm, lit=Abode of Peace) or commonly known as Dar, is the largest city and financial hub of Tanzania. It is also the capital of Dar es Salaam Region. With a population of over ...

and their head coach is Dean Alty from Tanzania. They are colloquially known as the ''Taifa Stars''. Tanzania has never qualified for the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

. Before uniting with Zanzibar, the team played as the Tanganyika national football team, The team represents both

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

and

Confederation of African Football The Confederation of African Football, or CAF for short (french: link=yes, Confédération Africaine de Football, ar, link=yes, الاتحاد الأفريقي لكرة القدم, al-Ittiḥād al-Afrīqī li-Kurat al-Qadam), is the administ ...

(CAF). Tanzania has qualified for 4 World cups The island of

Zanzibar Zanzibar (; ; ) is an insular semi-autonomous province which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of many small islands ...

, 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 The Africa Cup of Nations referred to as AFCON (french: Coupe d'Afrique des Nations, sometimes referred to as CAN, or TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons), and sometimes as African Cup of Nations, is the main internati ...

. See ''

Zanzibar national football team The Zanzibar national football team represents Zanzibar in international football and is controlled by the Zanzibar Football Federation. History Zanzibar is not a member of FIFA and is therefore not eligible to enter the World Cup. The islan ...

''.

History

Since qualifying for the

1980 Africa Cup of Nations The 1980 African Cup of Nations was the 12th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa ( CAF). It was hosted by Nigeria. Just like in 1978, the field of eight teams was split into two groups of four. Nigeria won its ...

, 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 This page details the process of qualifying for the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations. Qualified teams The 16 qualified teams were: * as hosts. * as group 1 winner. * as group 2 winner. * as group 3 winner. * as group 4 winner. * as group 5 winner. * a ...

, where the ''Taifa Stars'' defeated

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the ...

twice and only finished three points behind group winners

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 � ...

. In 2010 Tanzania won the

CECAFA Cup The CECAFA Cup, is the oldest football tournament in Africa. It is organized by the Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA). A FIFA competition, it includes participants of football playing national teams from the Eas ...

for the third time. A recent achievement was a 1–0 win against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

in the

2017 COSAFA Cup The 2017 COSAFA Cup (known as Castle Lager COSAFA Cup South Africa 2017 for sponsorship reasons) is the 17th edition of the COSAFA Cup, an international football competition consisting of national teams of member nations of the Council of Souther ...

Quarter-finals A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

. But afterwards, Tanzania lost the Semi-finals 2–4 to

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...

. Then, in the Third-place playoff, Tanzania managed to win the match against

Lesotho Lesotho ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked country, landlocked as an Enclave and exclave, enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the Thabana Ntlenyana, highest mountains in Sou ...

4–2 in a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pen ...

after the

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...

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 }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

3–0 to reach the finals of the

for the first time in 39 years. At the

Finals Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

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 The African Nations Championship (french: Championnat d'Afrique des Nations; abbreviated as CHAN), known as the TotalEnergies African Nations Championship for sponsorship purposes, is a biennial African national association football tourname ...

for only the second time, as well as defeating

Burundi Burundi (, ), officially the Republic of Burundi ( rn, Repuburika y’Uburundi ; Swahili language, Swahili: ''Jamuhuri ya Burundi''; French language, French: ''République du Burundi'' ), is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley at the ...

in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.

Coaches

:Caretaker managers are listed in ''italics''. *

Bert Trautmann Bernhard Carl "Bert" Trautmann EK OBE BVO (22 October 1923 – 19 July 2013) was a German professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Manchester City from 1949 to 1964. In August 1933, (aged 9), he joined the Jungvolk, the junior ...

(1975) * Geoff Hudson (1977–1979) * Slawomir Wolk (1979–1980) * Mahammed Msomali (1980–1981) *

Rudi Gutendorf Rudolf Gutendorf (30 August 1926 – 13 September 2019) was a German football manager, renowned for managing the highest number of national teams – a total of 18 teams plus Iran's Olympic team in 1988 and the China Olympic team in 1992 ...

(1981) * Joseph Bendera (1981-1985) * Paul West (1985-1989) * Charles Boniface Mkwasa (1989-1992) * Kayuni Dunday (1993-1995) * Clóvis de Oliveira (1995–1996) * Badru Hafidh (1996-1998) * Sylersaid Mziray (1998-1999) * Mansour Magram (1999-00) * Burkhard Pape (2000–01) *

Mshindo Msolla Mshindo Msolla is a Tanzanian professional football manager. Until 2002 he coached the club Taifa Stars. From October 2002 to July 2003 he led the Tanzania national football team. Then he again coached the club Taifa Stars The Tanzania nati ...

(2001-02) * James Siang'a (2002) *

(2002–03) * Badru Hafidh (2003–06) *

Júlio César Leal Júlio César Leal Junior (born April 13, 1951 in Itajuba, Brazil) is an association football manager. Leal has coached clubs in Kuwait, Brazil, Japan, United States and South Africa. He parted ways with Orlando Pirates Orlando Pirates ...

(2006) * Márcio Máximo (2006–10) *

Jan Poulsen Jan Børge Poulsen (born 23 March 1946) is a Danish football manager and former player who played as midfielder, spending most of his professional career at Boldklubben Frem. Coaching career During the 1980s Poulsen coached Boldklubben Frem and ...

(2010–12) *

Kim Poulsen Kim Poulsen (born 22 March 1959) is a Danish football manager and former amateur player was most recently manager of the Tanzania national football team. Managerial career Early career Poulsen only played amateur football as an active player.

(2012–14) * '' Salum Madadi'' (2014) * Mart Nooij (2014–2015) * Charles Boniface Mkwasa (2015–2017) * Salum Mayanga (2017–2018) *

Emmanuel Amunike Emmanuel Amunike (born 25 December 1970) is a Nigerian professional football manager and former professional football player who played as a winger. and is currently the assistant coach of Nigeria national team. Playing career He played for ...

(2018–2019) * Etienne Ndayiragije (2019–2021) *

(2021–2022) * '' Honour Janza'' (2022) * '' Dean Alty'' (2022-)

Players

Current squad

The following players were called up for the friendly matches against

and

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...

on 24 and 27 September 2022. :''Caps and goals correct as of 8 June 2022, after the match against

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

.''

Recent call-ups

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

Player records

:''Players in bold are still active with Tanzania.''

Most appearances

Top goalscorers

Competitive record

World Cup record

Africa Cup of Nations record

African Nations Championship record

African Games

Gossage Cup / CECAFA Cup

Honours

: ::*3 Times Champion (

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

) ::*5 Times Runners-up (

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. ...

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

)

References

External links

Tanzania
at FIFA.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Tanzania National Football Team African national association football teams