Tanzania Premier League Board (TPL) has promised massive improvement and excitement as the Mainland’s Vodacom Premier League is set to kick off on Saturday.
RepresentativeS of 14 Mainland Premier League teams pose with sports gear presented to them by the main sponsors, Vodacom Tanzania, in Dar es Salaam. (Photo by Robert Okanda)
In fact, excitement is reaching ceiling high and already the league’s main sponsors Vodacom Tanzania have presented sports gear worth over 400m/- to all 14 participating teams.
TPL Chief Executive Silas Mwakibinga said they expect a much improved and competitive league this season based on the fact that most teams seemed to be aggressive in preparations.
“We at the TPL Board have also been aggressive to ensure that the teams get much needed financial and material support to prepare for the league. We’ve already disbursed cash for transport and other logistics to all teams and today (yesterday) we’re giving them kits,” said Mwakibinga.
Presenting the kits to all 14 top flight teams, Vodacom’s Head of Marketing and Communications Kelvin Twissa said all the necessary sports gear is available and hoped that all the clubs have adequately prepared to start the new league season. “We’re very happy to present the gear as per the requirements of the sponsorship deal and we hope that all clubs are ready to start the new 2013/2014 league season.”
In the run up to the top flight league kick off, fans are prepared to rally behind their teams as the battle for the title and Champions League and Confederation Cup slots promises much competition and excitement.
And the emergence of several contenders amidst continued expectations from the traditional ‘Big Two’ has had even Simba and Young Africans fans claiming that the status quo no longer exists as was proved last season when Simba found themselves out of the tape, with Azam finishing as runners-up.
While most of the focus and expectations will still remain on both defending champions Yanga and Simba, Azam’s strength cannot be ignored. Of course, Azam, the 2012 Kagame Cup finalists, made headlines in the past months. They have built a reputation for themselves after finishing second in the league table for two consecutive seasons. Again, Azam look set to be the team to upset the odds this season.
They have maintained team cohesion with few new faces coming in and the change of technical bench will have a little bearing on their playing pattern. So what will the upcoming season have in store for us? Again, the main ingredient we see coming into play is that other teams outside the standard top three of Simba and Yanga and the emergency of Azam are now preparing to come in full throttle and challenge for the trophy.
Apparently, with the exception of Azam, Coastal Union of Tanga and Mtibwa Sugar of Morogoro who are likely to challenge Simba and Yanga for the top two spots, much is also expected from the rest of the teams, judging from their preparations.
Coastal Union have also gone outside the box and splashed some good money in the transfer window, bringing in a good number of quality players while Mtibwa have always been serious contenders and fans expect them to stay that way.
Kagera Sugar and newly promoted teams — Mbeya City and Rhino Rangers from Tabora – have also prepared well, according to reports.
Source Tanzania Daily News
