Africa-Press – Tanzania. THE new date of Kariakoo Derby pitting Simba against their traditional rivals Young Africans will be unveiled soon; it was confirmed in Dar es Salaam yesterday.
The derby was called off last Saturday. The decision was made after the Ministry of Information, Culture, Arts and Sports met with Tanzania Football Federation (TFF), National Sports Council (NSC) and the two clubs; Simba and Yanga as a way forward.
According to the statement released yesterday by the ministry, besides a decision to reschedule the derby, TFF has also been directed to compensate 43, 947 fans who paid a gate fee via electronic tickets.
In retrospect, the Minister for Information, Culture, Arts and Sports, Innocent Bashungwa has directed the National Data Center which is responsible for supervising e-tickets (N-Card) at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium to re-issue each a ticket through e-card system to enable them watch the next derby whose date will be revealed soon.
Furthermore it has been also advised that tickets sale for those who wish to watch the new derby can buy their tickets through the same system so as to fill the remaining seats of the 60,000-seater arena.
Additionally, the ministry has also raised concerns on the presence of a mistrust between the Federation and certain clubs like Yanga saying that must be resolved.
“ We soon are going to conduct another meeting between TFF and Yanga to discuss the challenges which fuel the mistrust between the two sides so as to resolve it and bring our soccer to the next level,” said the statement.
Finally the Minister apologised to all football supporters and stakeholders following the cancelation of the derby .
The last Saturday derby was called off after the federation changed the kickoff time from 17:00 to 19:00 hours. However Yanga decided to ignore the change claiming it was against the league’s regulations.
