The Tanzanian Football Federation (TFF) says the Mainland Premier League will resume soon, as they continue to work hard to implement the suggestions of President John Magufuli.
The President at a brief swearing in ceremony of Mwigulu Nchemba as the new Minister for Constitutional and Legal Affairs suggested he would back a return of sporting activities to the country.
“I am planning to let the league resume in the near future so that people can start playing and be watched on Television such that we just need to put in place good measures to facilitate that”.
“So far, I have not heard of any sports person being affected by the Coronavirus meaning that those who embrace sport activities are not easily attacked by the Covid-19 as such, if we ban them from partaking in sports, by implication, we want them to suffer from the Covid-19 disease,” Magufuli said.
Due to the Coronavirus, the league was put on hold when the Tanzanian government suspended all sporting activities.
So far there have been 480 Covid-19 positive cases in the country with 167 recoveries and 17 deaths.
The Tanzanian Premier League Board (TPLB) CEO, Almas Kasongo was happy with the President’s statement and revealed that plans are ongoing to resume the League.
“Let me take this opportunity to laud him for showing his interest to bring back the game of football because sports help a lot to build people’s health and thereby remain resilient to diseases,” Kasongo said.
He also stated that the TPLB reached a consensus that the remaining league matches will be played behind closed doors.
“We will ensure that players, referees, members of the technical bench, leaders, and few reporters who will get access into the stadium are thoroughly tested to curb the further spread of the Covid-19,” Kasongo continued.
“In the Mainland Premier League, there are 98 matches to be played while in the First Division League (FDL), we have 48 games on the cards and again in the Second Division League (SDL), there is one more round to go of 10 matches which will also involve six playoffs before getting the required teams to be promoted.”
Meanwhile, The Zanzibar Football Federation President Seif Kombo says the federation has no plans of canceling the Isles Premier League saying the league will continue when normalcy returns.
The Zanzibar Football Federation held a meeting over the weekend to discuss the fate of the Isles Premier League after five-weeks of suspension caused by COVID-19.
According to the ZFF President, their inspiration comes from the nations president John Magufuli on the resumption of the Mainland Premier League.
“His statement was very inspirational and now we are making plans to resume our league, hence no intention at all to cancel it,” Kombo said.
The ZFF President went on to say that the resumption of the league will be dependent on the directives from the government, when it feels it is safe for the resumption of the league.