AfricaPress-Tanzania: AZAM FC said when the Mainland Premier League resumes, all their remaining home games will be played at their own Chamazi Complex as the pitch renovation works which have been going on are nearing completion.
Azam were forced to shift some of their top flight league home games to Uhuru Stadium and National Stadium respectively to pave way for the upgrading works of the pitch which involved total removal of the artificial pitch and replaced it with the new one.
However, breaking the good news recently in the city was the newly appointed club’s Communication Officer Thabith Zakaria who said at the moment, only minor works are being accomplished before letting it be used by the team.
“At the moment, constructors are just finishing up some of the minor works but the big part of it has already been done and once they finish, the stadium will be fit to be reopened,” he said.
He therefore asked for apology from the club’s fans residing in Dar es Salaam for the inconveniences caused as a result of the venue changes while thanking them for exercising patience throughout such difficult period.
“There are some problems which we encountered after switching the arena like untimely change of starting time of our league fixtures which gave the players tough time to cope with but that will soon be the issue of the past,” he said.
He added that it has taken much time to complete the facelift works because the new artificial pitch required a lot of things to be put underneath compared to the previous one.
Azam FC are among the stable teams in the country with a strong financial base which saw them build their own turf from where their home games are played except when they host Simba or Young Africans as they usually shift to the giant National Stadium.
At one point, they wrote a letter to the Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) requesting that all their home matches should be held at Chamazi Complex but they later changed the stand to let them use the National Stadium when entertaining Simba and Yanga.
As it stands, the Ice-cream makers remain glued to the second place on the league table with 54 points after 28 games and have since vowed to fight to the end in chase of the season’s silverware.
They are 17 points adrift leaders Simba who enjoy the pilot seat courtesy of 71 points after playing 28 matches as well hence catching them will be a big achievement by Azam who have not won the league trophy for a long time.
However, even though Simba might be looking the favourite to clinch the title, the interesting battle will be for the second place finish with Yanga and Namungo eyeing the same spot.
Yanga are third with 51 points from 27 outings whereas debutants Namungo have intensified their desire to go up the ladders as they have sourced 50 points after 28 matches respectively.
