Author: BENJAMIN BEN
AfricaPress-Tanzania: AZAM FC have lauded the government for upholding recommendations made by stakeholders to enable domestic clubs to sign a maximum number of ten foreign based players.
On Monday, Minister for Information, Culture, Arts and Sports Harrison Mwakyembe nodded to the recommendations after going through various opinions submitted to him via the National Sports Council (NSC), to find the exact number of foreign players to be allowed to feature in the Mainland Premier League.
According to Minister Mwakyembe, 82.8 per cent of the opinions gathered suggested that the number of foreign based players to be signed by a domestic club should remain unchanged at ten.
He added that eight per cent of the collected opinions proposed that there should not be limit to sign foreign players provided the concerned clubs have financial muscles to take care of them.
Reacting to this was Azam FC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Abdulkarim Amin ‘Popat’ who said the government decision to allow clubs to sign ten foreign players is good news for them.
“It is a great decision, otherwise, the clubs to have been affected if the government chose to trim the number could be us (Azam), Simba and Young Africans because we have more foreign based players. “We have received the decision wholeheartedly and we thank the government for listening to opinions made by football fans in the country,” he said.
He added that in their squad, currently, only two places for foreign based players are available to complete the maximum of required ten players while insisting that they are in the final stages talking with the remaining ones.
“Until now, most countries have not yet opened up their borders that is the setback we are facing to finish the deals but soon, everything will be done,” he said.
About domestic signing, Popat said there is only one place remaining for a Tanzanian and that it will be sealed as quickly as possible.
According to him, the squad is already on the ground preparing for the next season, while revealing that each player, upon being signed, is going straight to camp.
