The Tanzania national football team () represents Tanzania in men's international football 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 and their head coach is Hemed Morocco from Tanzania. They are colloquially known as the Taifa Stars. Tanzania has never qualified for the FIFA World Cup. Before uniting with Zanzibar, the team played as the Tanganyika national football team. The team represents both FIFA and Confederation of African Football (CAF).
The island of Zanzibar, 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. 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 the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations qualification, where the Taifa Stars defeated Burkina Faso twice and only finished three points behind group winners Senegal. In 2010 Tanzania won the CECAFA Cup for the third time.
A recent achievement was a 1–0 win against South Africa in the 2017 COSAFA Cup Quarter-finals. But afterwards, Tanzania lost the Semi-finals 2–4 to Zambia. Then, in the Third-place playoff, Tanzania managed to win the match against Lesotho 4–2 in a penalty shootout after the extra time 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 3–0 to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time in 39 years. At AFCON 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 for only the second time, as well as defeating Burundi in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.
On 19 November 2024 Tanzania won a narrow victory of 1–0 against Guinea which secured their fourth times 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.
In February 2026, Tanzania's Ministry of Sports extended Miguel Ángel Gamondi's contract to coach the national football team.
Team image Kit suppliers Kit supplier Period Uhlsport 2017–2023 Sandaland 2023–
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.
2025
2026
2027
Coaching staff
Head coach Miguel Ángel Gamondi Assistant coach Juma Mgunda Assistant coach Hemed MoroccoGoalkeeper coach Osama Al-HamdanPhysical coach Mikael MayoyoSports therapist Joris De VosHead of medical Lisobine KisongoTeam manager Reinhard Video analysis Gabriel Johnson
Coaching history
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 (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 (2018–2019) Etienne Ndayiragije (2019–2021) Kim Poulsen (2021–2022) Honour Janza (2022) Dean Alty (2022) Kim Poulsen (2022–2023) Adel Amrouche (2023–2024) Hemed Morocco (2024–2025) Miguel Ángel Gamondi (2025–present)
Players Current squad The following players were called up for the 2026 FIFA Series (men's matches) matches against Liechtenstein and Macau on 26 and 29 March 2026, respectively.
Caps and goals correct as of 29 March 2026, after the match against Macau.
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
RankNameCapsGoalsCareer1Erasto Nyoni10772006–20212Simon Msuva103252012–present3Mrisho Ngassa100252006–20154Kelvin Yondani9702008–20215Shomari Kapombe9522011–present6Mbwana Samatta89222011–present7John Bocco84162009–20238Himid Mao8122013–present9Juma Kaseja7902002–202110Aishi Manula6802015–present
Top goalscorers
RankNameGoalsCapsRatioCareer1Mrisho Ngassa251002006–2015Simon Msuva251032012–present3Mbwana Samatta22892011–present4John Bocco16842009–20235John Nteze Lungu12221992–20026Jerson Tegete8282006–2011Danny Mrwanda8342005–20118Mohamed Rajab7202002–2011Thomas Ulimwengu7512010–2021Erasto Nyoni71072006–2021
Competitive record FIFA World Cup FIFA World Cup recordQualification recordYearRoundPosition1930 to 1962Not a FIFA memberNot a FIFA member1966 and 1970Did not enterDid not enter 1974Did not qualify302114 1978WithdrewWithdrew 1982Did not qualify411276 1986202011 1990Did not enterDid not enter 1994Withdrew during qualifyingWithdrew during qualifying 1998Did not qualify201112 2002200224 2006201103 2010622296 201483051014 20184112410 20228242810 2026831467 2030 To be determined 2034 Total491215224967
Africa Cup of Nations
Africa Cup of Nations recordQualification recordYearRoundPositionas as 1957Not affiliated to CAFNot affiliated to CAF 1959 1962 1963as as 1965Not affiliated to CAFNot affiliated to CAF 1968Withdrew during qualifyingWithdrew during qualifying 1970Did not qualify4112310 1972201126 1974412153 1976201136 1978Withdrew during qualifyingWithdrew during qualifying 1980Group stage 7th301236421184 1982WithdrewWithdrew 1984Did not qualify201134 1986Withdrew during qualifyingWithdrew during qualifying 1988Did not qualify301236 1990202022 1992612347 1994Withdrew during qualifyingWithdrew during qualifying 1996Did not qualify104061415 1998612357 2000200202 2002200224 2004Withdrew during qualifyingWithdrew during qualifying 2006Did not qualify201103 2008622247 2010222296 2012612369 2013202022 2015412166 2017401306 2019Group stage24th300328622265 2021Did not qualify621356 2023Group stage22nd302114622234 2025Round of 1616th402235631254 2027Qualified as co-hostsQualified as co-hosts 2029To be determinedTo be determinedTotalRound of 164/351305892399253242100134
African Nations Championship African Nations Championship recordQualification recordAppearances: 3Appearances: 7YearRoundPosition* 2009Group stage 5th3111226411104 2011Did not qualify311172 2014200214 2016201114 2018202011 2020Group stage10th311134412122 2022Did not qualify420235 2024Quarter-finals7th531152Qualified as hostsTotalQuarter-finals2/7622256238782522
African Games African Games recordYearResultPldWDLGFGA 19737th300337Total1/4300337
Gossage Cup / CECAFA Cup
Honours Regional CECAFA Cup Champions (3): 1974, 1994, 2010 Runners-up (5): 1973, 1980, 1981, 1992, 2002 Third place (4): 1975, 1979, 1990, 2008 COSAFA Cup Third place (1): 2017
Friendly Gossage Cup / Challenge Cup (5): 1949, 1950, 1951, 1964, 1965
Notes Shared titles.
References
External links
Tanzania at CAF Tanzania at FIFA