The Tanzania national football team () represents

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

in men's international

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

and is controlled by the Tanzania Football Federation, the governing body for football in Tanzania, Tanzania's home ground is Benjamin Mkapa National Stadium in

Dar es Salaam Dar es Salaam (, ; from ) is the largest city and financial hub of Tanzania. It is also the capital of the Dar es Salaam Region. With a population of over 7 million people, Dar es Salaam is the largest city in East Africa by population and the ...

and their head coach is Adel Amrouche from Algeria. They are colloquially known as the ''Taifa Stars''. Tanzania has never qualified for the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

. Before uniting with Zanzibar, the team played as the Tanganyika national football team. The team represents both

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

and

Confederation of African Football The Confederation of African Football (CAF) is the administrative and controlling body for association football, beach soccer, and futsal in Africa. It was established on 8 February 1957 at the ''Grand Hotel'' in Khartoum, Sudan. At the FIFA Co ...

(CAF). The island of

Zanzibar Zanzibar is a Tanzanian archipelago off the coast of East Africa. It is located in the Indian Ocean, and consists of many small Island, islands and two large ones: Unguja (the main island, referred to informally as Zanzibar) and Pemba Island. ...

, part of Tanzania (and once an independent nation), is also an associate member of CAF and has played matches with other nations, but is not eligible to enter the World Cup or

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations, commonly abbreviated as AFCON and officially known as the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, is the main biennial international men's association football competition in Africa. It is s ...

. See '' Zanzibar national football team''.

History

Since qualifying for the 1980 Africa Cup of Nations, Tanzania endured nearly 40 years without major success, struggling in both African and World Cup qualifiers. Their best effort was in 2008 Africa Cup of Nations qualification, where the ''Taifa Stars'' defeated

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa, bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Ivory Coast to the southwest. It covers an area of 274,223 km2 (105,87 ...

twice and only finished three points behind group winners

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

. In 2010 Tanzania won the CECAFA Cup for the third time. A recent achievement was a 1–0 win against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

in the 2017 COSAFA Cup

Quarter-finals A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

. But afterwards, Tanzania lost the Semi-finals 2–4 to

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

. Then, in the Third-place playoff, Tanzania managed to win the match against

Lesotho Lesotho, formally the Kingdom of Lesotho and formerly known as Basutoland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Entirely surrounded by South Africa, it is the largest of only three sovereign enclave and exclave, enclaves in the world, t ...

4–2 in a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

after the

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

ended in a goalless draw. This Third place was considered Tanzania's biggest football achievement in many years. On 24 March 2019, Tanzania beat East African rivals

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

3–0 to reach the finals of the

for the first time in 39 years. At the

Finals Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

the ''Taifa Stars'', being the weakest team in the group, lost all three Group C matches, as predicted. A few months later, Tanzania qualified for the

African Nations Championship The African Nations Championship, known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies African Nations Championship and commonly abbreviated as CHAN, is a biennial African association football tournament organized by the Confederation of Afri ...

for only the second time, as well as defeating

Burundi Burundi, officially the Republic of Burundi, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is located in the Great Rift Valley at the junction between the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa, with a population of over 14 million peop ...

in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers. On 19 November 2024 Tanzania won a narrow victory of 1–0 against Guinea which secured their fourth time
Afcon qualification
since 1980. A decisive goal by Simon Msuva sent them to the tournament in 2025. The Afcon finals are scheduled to take place from 21 December 2025 to 18 January 2026 in Morocco.

Team image

Kit suppliers

Coaching staff

Results and fixtures

The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

2024

2025

Coaches

:Caretaker managers are listed in ''italics''. * Bert Trautmann (1975) * Geoff Hudson (1977–1979) * Sławomir Wolk (1979–1980) * Mahammed Msomali (1980–1981) * Rudi Gutendorf (1981) * Joseph Bendera (1981–1985) * Paul West (1985–1989) * Charles Boniface Mkwasa (1989–1992) * Sunday Kayuni (1993–1995) * Clóvis de Oliveira (1995–1996) * Badru Hafidh (1996–1998) * Sylersaid Mziray (1998–1999) * Mansour Magram (1999–00) * Burkhard Pape (2000–01) * Mshindo Msolla (2001–02) * James Siang'a (2002) * Mshindo Msolla (2002–03) * Badru Hafidh (2003–06) * Júlio César Leal (2006) *

Márcio Máximo Márcio Máximo Barcellos (born 29 April 1962) is a Brazilian football manager. Career Born in Rio de Janeiro, Máximo was a member of Brazil's under-17 and under-20 sides coach staff from 1992 until 1993. The teams included the future stars li ...

(2006–10) * Jan Poulsen (2010–12) * Kim Poulsen (2012–14) * '' Salum Madadi'' (2014) * Mart Nooij (2014–2015) * Charles Boniface Mkwasa (2015–2017) * Salum Mayanga (2017–2018) *

Emmanuel Amunike Emmanuel Amunike (born 25 December 1970) is a Nigerian professional football manager and former footballer who played as a winger. Playing career Amunike played for Zamalek, Sporting CP, Barcelona, and Albacete. He played 28 times for Niger ...

(2018–2019) *

Etienne Ndayiragije Etienne Ndayiragije (born 3 December 1978) is a Burundian football manager who formerly coached the Burundi national team and currently manages the Kenya Premier League side Kenya Police The Kenya Police Service is a national body in char ...

(2019–2021) * Kim Poulsen (2021–2022) * '' Honour Janza'' (2022) * '' Dean Alty'' (2022) * Kim Poulsen (2022–2023) * Adel Amrouche (2023–2024) * '' Hemed Morocco'' (2024–)

Players

Current squad

The following players were called up for 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification – CAF Group E match against on 25 March 2025. ''Caps and goals correct as of 19 November 2024, after the match against .''

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up for Tanzania in the last 12 months. ^DEC Player refused to join the team after the call-up.
^INJ Player withdrew from the squad due to an injury.
^PRE Preliminary squad.
^RET Player has retired from international football.
^SUS Suspended from the national team.

Player records

:''Players in bold are still active with Tanzania.''

Most appearances

Top goalscorers

Competitive record

FIFA World Cup

Africa Cup of Nations

African Nations Championship

African Games

Gossage Cup / CECAFA Cup

Honours

Regional

* CECAFA Cup ** Champions (3):

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

** Runners-up (5):

1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

**Third place (3):

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

* COSAFA Cup **Third place (1):

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

References

External links

Tanzania
at CAF
Tanzania
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tanzania National Football Team African national association football teams