Africa-Press – Tanzania. THE 43,000 fans with tickets to watch the postponed Dar es Salaam derby on May 8th, have been guaranteed re-entry by using the old tickets when Simba and Young Africans meet at Benjamin Mkapa stadium in a rescheduled clash in Dar es Salaam this Saturday.
The derby involving the country’s football giants was postponed due miscommunication at the eleventh hour when the Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) moved the kick-off time from 16:00 to 19:00.
Consequently, football fans who appeared at the Mkapa stadium were left shocked by the last minute postponement.
After the incident, the Preme Minister Kassim Majaliwa issued directives to the Minister for Information, Culture, Arts and Sports, Innocent Bashungwa to resolve the matter.
Following that directive, Minister Bashungwa directed the National Data Center, responsible for supervising e-tickets (N-Card) at Benjamin Mkapa Stadium, to re-issue each ticket through an e-card system to enable the fans to watch the rescheduled derby clash.
Elaborating on the ticket, N-Card Business Manager Jackson Jaka said the 43,000 fans who booked tickets for the May 8th match should not be worried because they will use those exact tickets.
“Those football fans, who booked tickets on May 8th this year, should not be worried because they will use the same tickets they booked.”
He also noted that, there are 13,782 open seats where a fan who could not book the ticket can now get one.
“We have begun selling the remaining tickets since June 28th, so I urge fans to use the opportunity to get tickets; there are less than 10,000 vacancies left.”
Jaka also noted that those football fans who lost or misplaced their cards should report to their offices with the police report, and they will offer them assistance to get their tickets back.
“For those who lost their card, they should report to our offices together with a loss report from the police, and we will get them a ticket to watch the derby.”
Moreover, Jaka, not for fans with more than one card, should be aware that their tickets will return to the card they booked with and not the card they did not book.
“A fan can own more than one phone number, and each phone number registered to a particular card; thus, the ticket will only be returned to the card with a phone number that you bought with the ticket and not otherwise.”
The new derby date was announced by the Tanzania Premier League Board (TPLB) after the long-running tug-of-war between the two giants following their initial battle on May 8th this year at the same venue.
The new match date was well received by both clubs, and they confirmed that they are comfortable with the date.
