THE Centre for Foreign Relations (CFR) started the Dar es Salaam Universities Federation Cup positively after a 2-0 win over Tanzania Public Service College (TPSC) played at the Dar es Salaam University College of Education grounds yesterday.
Goals from Faustine Kisando, who netted in the 22nd minute and Sameery Adam who scored in the 35th minute, were enough for CFR to begin their campaign on a high note.
The competition which has attracted 16 university teams from the city, continues today when College of Business Education (CBE) host Dar es Salaam Maritime Institute (DMI) at the same venue and in another game, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS) host St Joseph University (STJU) at Ardhi University ground.
However, briefing reporters recently in the city, DUFCUP Chairman Habili Kazimoto said the tournament aims to identify potential players from the Higher Learning Institutions, who can later join various teams in the country.
“From the research we have conducted, we concluded that almost 75 per cent of the teams which do better in international level games usually use players who are generated from universities and we want to produce the same in our country,” he said.
He named Uganda, Nigeria and Cameroon as among the countries which rely much on the players identified from universities, who are used in various competitions in their respective nations.
He added that through the competition, they want to identify best players and form a strategic team which will be playing against big clubs in the country and thereby send a message to the Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) that prolific talent is found in universities.
“Also, the competition will help a lot to build strong friendship among university students apart from enabling other students to reach their dreams through sports activities,” he said.
On his part, another representative from DUFCUP, Hassan Lussewa said they have arranged hefty prizes for the top three teams.
According to him, the winner will pocket 2m/-, the runners up will bag 1m/- while the third place occupant will walk home with 500,000/-.
