Dar Es Salaam — PRESIDENT Jakaya Kikwete has pointed a finger at the Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) fragile leadership, as the main factor that hampers the development of the sport in the country.

He made the remarks at the brief ceremony to unveil the FIFA World Cup Trophy, at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam this afternoon. The authentic, solid-gold trophy arrived in Dar es Salaam today, as part of its all Africa tour.

The president who is a good supporter of sports, showed his elegance after using a large part of his 15-minute speech highlighting problems affecting the development of football in the country.

He suggested the way forward as well.

To him one of the main factors that has been betraying football development endeavours is the tendency of TFF leadership to embrace fanaticism and the tradition of handling some clubs with 'soft hands,' just because they attract good revenues.

President Kikwete said, looking at the TFF president Leodegar Tenga, who stood few metres from the stage, that those two things hinder the development of football in the country and challenged the local football governing body to transform its current image and be more vibrant.

He advised TFF to lay down proper plans and ensure they implement them accordingly, for the success of local football. The president told TFF that they should not remain solely as supervisors of football and national teams, instead, be central to the football success.

He cited poor leadership at the club level as another adversary towards the prosperity of football in the country. The president said the base of football is built at the club level and that national team coach, Marcio Maximo, cannot do it alone.

President Kikwete warned that without good and visionary leadership in clubs, Tanzania football will struggle to the eternal.

He said good players are nurtured and developed at the club level and urged them to hire qualified and experienced trainers. He also implored TFF and clubs to focus on developing youth football.

Don on dark-green truck-suit that reflected this special event, President Kikwete said earlier that the arrival of the trophy was a historic moment and great challenge to the country's football fraternity to wake up and improve the standard of home football.

He said there is no reason why Tanzania should not emulate the success of fellow African countries, by reaching the FIFA World Cup finals in the future.