The annual Copa Coca-Cola soccer tournament is back in action. Competitions are currently going on at district level and will later be held in the regions and zones before the national finals are staged in Dar es Salaam in September.
Action from last year’s national Copa Coca-Cola youth soccer tournament at the Karume Memorial Stadium in Dar es Salaam.
Initially meant for Under-17 youngsters, the tournament will, starting this year, involve youths and both boys and girls — aged below 15 years so as to unearth as many raw talents as possible.
Introduced six years ago, Copa Coca-Cola has played a leading role in identifying and promoting talents at the grassroots level, thus allowing the Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) to have a sound foundation for its youth development programmes.
The tournament has also enabled TFF to turn around the country’s football fortunes and last year the national U-17 team, popularly known as Serengeti Boys, participated in the Copa Coca-Cola inter-country tournament in South Africa.
The youngsters finished runners-up with 14 points from eight games and one point behind champions Zambia.The tournament had brought together nine teams; Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Central, East and West Africa (CEWA) combined side.
Serengeti Boys won four matches. They beat Zimbabwe 3-0, triumphed 3-0 over CEWA and maintained their winning spree with a 2-0 victory over Mozambique and Uganda. They lost two matches; 3-2 to Kenya and 1-0 to Zambia and twice drew goalless with Nigeria and Malawi.
Prior to that, the national U-17 team that was assembled after the inaugural tournament in 2007 made Tanzania proud by emerging champions of the international Copa Coca-Cola held in Brazil in 2008.
A brain child of incumbent TFF Technical Director Sunday Kayuni, the Copa Coca-Cola tournament in Tanzania has been taking place annually since 2007. Kayuni submitted a proposal to TFF for the introduction of youth competitions long before he was appointed director.
Later the federation endorsed the proposal and after winning Coca-Cola’s sponsorship the Copa Coca-Cola tournament took off.The proposal stemmed from the fact that for several years sports competitions were banned in schools and this led to the decline of the country’s sports standards.
The introduction of Copa Coca-Cola was the tonic Tanzania needed to reverse the trend and since then TFF has ensured that the tournament is sustained.
Some of the steps taken to ensure Copa Coca-Cola’s success include working hand in hand with the ministries of sports and education and regional development and local government (Tamisemi).
The federation is also working closely with football academies, corporate bodies and premier league coaches as well as training teachers who coach the boys and girls in their respective schools.
In addition, TFF conducts coaching courses for young referees aged under 15 at the Twalipo Camp in Dar es Salaam.
These referees have been officiating the Copa Coca-Cola, the annual Uhai Cup that involves U-20 teams of all premier league clubs, the national inter-secondary schools (UMISSETA) football tournaments and the East African youth competition organised by Rollingstone Academy in Arusha.
TFF has also directed all regions to employ a technical and development director who will be in charge of youth development programmes.
Fortunately, FIFA has acknowledged TFF’s efforts and it is now offering substantial support. Since last year FIFA has been conducting courses for coaches of the participating teams and young referees assigned to Copa Coca-Cola.
Copa Coca-Cola competitions start in the districts in both Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar, they are then held at regional and zonal levels and culminate in the national finals.
Opening and closing ceremonies are full of pomp and gaiety as they are marked by colourful parades and traditional dances. The entertaining matches, which are hard to predict, always pull big crowds.
This is one of the most successful football tournaments in Tanzania and it has so far produced several star players who feature in both the domestic and foreign leagues.
The list is long but among them are professionals Mbwana Samatta and Thomas Ulimwengu who both ply their trade with TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
As stated earlier Copa Coca-Cola players constitute the bulk of Serengeti Boys and the national U-20 national team (Ngorongoro Heroes). Last year the senior team, Taifa Stars, had five players who were spotted during the Copa Coca-Cola.
Local clubs like Simba, Young Africans, Azam and Mtibwa Sugar have lately cashed in on Copa Coca- Cola to sign players who beef up their outfits for the Mainland Premier League.
TFF is fully committed to developing soccer at the grassroots and its long-term youth development programme is directed towards involving schools throughout the country.
And the staging of the Copa Coca-Cola tournament has greatly benefited Tanzania as far as the development of the beautiful game is concerned
By WILLIE CHIWANGO, Tanzania Daily News