TANZANIA'S major tourist hub, Arusha was honoured to host the 44th Ordinary General Assembly of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) bringing there delegates from 52 countries, members of the continent's supreme football governing body.
Held in the beautiful city of Arusha, high-profile football leaders worldwide attended the event, including FIFA President, Gianni Infantino and CAF President Patrice Matsepe.
Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa officiated the assembly on behalf of President Samia Suluhu Hassan whose speech read by the Prime Minister, said Africa needs to increase its efforts in developing football, adding that Tanzania pays special attention to football development. To show her solid commitment to supporting football, the President said she has personally agreed to sponsor club championship for clubs in East and Central African countries known as Samia Cup.
Other significant support the government has made at a local level to the football game includes the construction of modern football stadiums. In this financial year alone, the government is committed to building more modern football stadiums in 10 regions.
Based on the spirit of public-private partnership, the government has not been alone in developing this most popular sport globally, with an estimated following of 4 billion fans.
Other organisations and companies have been backing the latter's efforts. Serengeti Breweries Limited (SBL) is one of the supporters worth mentioning in this course.
SBL, through its flagship brand, Serengeti Premium Lager, is the main sponsor of the men's national soccer team, Taifa Stars. SBL has a long history of supporting Taifa Stars, having made its debut sponsorship to the team between 2010 and 2012and springing back again to keep it in 2017 and 2020.
To bolster its unwavering support for Taifa Stars, in October 2020, the company renewed its contract with the Tanzanian Football Federation (TFF) and dished out 3bn/- Tanzanian shillings to support the team for another period of three years.
SBL's objective is to ensure that the national team displays its national colours with pride without worrying about the money with which to honour its local and international assignments, according to John Wanyancha, the company's corporate relations director.
"We are happy and grateful that our sponsorship has continued to bear fruits. Because throughout the three-year sponsorship, we have witnessed Taifa Stars registering a string of commendable successes in its various local, regional and international fixtures. That culminated in its qualifying for the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) championships held in Egypt in 2019-after being in the continental soccer limbo for a whopping 38 years!.," says Wanyancha.
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SBL's support for football does not end with Taifa Stars. Through the Serengeti Lite beer brand, the company is also the first and, so far, the only sponsor of the National Women Premier League.
The support for the women's national league dates back to 2018. The sponsorship has played a significant role in empowering women to increase their participation and performance in the sports sector in general and in soccer.
Like in the Taifa Stars case, the women league's support has borne great fruit.
We are all aware that the Tanzania women's national soccer team, Twiga Stars, was crowned COSAFA (Council of Southern African Football Associations) champions after beating Malawi 1-0 in championships' finals held in South Africa last year
