THE Mainland Tanzania Premier League has become the home of many foreign players.

It has become an opportunity for the footballers to redeem themselves and find new clubs elsewhere, although for some such a move becomes difficult due to their age, while young players take time to mature.

Tanzania's football has grown in recent years and it is time for aged players battling it out in the domestic top flight to get rid of the notion that they cannot contribute to the league's participating teams' success.

Burundian midfielder Saidi Ntibazonkiza, aged 37, continues to excel in the Mainland Premier League. He was, in the just-ended top flight, turning out for Simba SC - a squad that released him after the league had ended.

The player put his goal-scoring prowess to show - scoring 10+ goals in yet another season, a feat that was achieved on the back of an equally impressive run in the previous season, which had the midfielder netting 17 goals and being named as the joint-top goal scorer.

Before matchday 30 that brought the season's curtains down, so far five players from 16 teams had scored 10+ goals.

The players were Waziri Junior (Kinondoni Municipal Council FC), Maxi Nzengeli (Young Africans), Stephane Aziz Ki (Young Africans), Feisal Salum (Azam FC), and Ntibazonkiza (Simba SC).

In the list, Ntibazonkiza was so far the footballer that was, in the 2022/23, the joint-top goal scorer. Last season, the midfielder netted his 11th goal on the league's final day, when his club came up against JKT Tanzania.

Mainland Tanzania Premier League has many young players but aged players are the performers putting in the top performance. 

Such a situation has been brought about by the fact that African players, especially in Tanzania, take many years to mature in soccer.

Simba SC fans have called for the team's leadership to release Ntibazonkiza, seeking to build a new team for next season.

The supporters might have a point in this matter but the fact is Ntibazonkiza can still net 10+ goals in a season for Simba SC.

The Msimbazi Street-based side's fans are yearning for a new player who can net 20 goals next season, with the squad having already brought several new forwards before the season's completion.

Congolese attacker Jean Baleke left Simba SC during the January transfer window with eight goals to his name in the just-concluded Mainland Premier League, only to be surpassed by Ntibazonkiza with 11 goals at the end of the season, such a trend is worrying.

Simba SC would have kept Baleke and he could have scored 15+ goals for the club. It is tough to get consistent strikers in the Mainland Premier League. I, for that matter, believe a striker with what it takes to net 10+ goals should be kept at a club.

Even though Young Africans’ Stephane Aziz Ki scored 21 goals in the just-concluded season, it is tough for the league's clubs to get a player who can score 20 goals in one season.

A player with such prowess might turn out to be a foreign footballer. Quality forwards from outside the country can deliver that performance because the track record shows they have done that.

Before Aziz Ki scored 21 goals, former Young Africans forward Amissi Tambwe was the last player to have netted 20 goals in a single Premier League season.

A football supporter ought to think of top Young Africans strikers in recent years, ranging from Kenyan Boniface Ambani, Congolese Heritier Makambo, and Fiston Mayele to Tanzanian Simon Msuva, none of them netted 20+ goals.

Since the then Simba SC forward Meddie Kagere scored 23 goals in the 2019/20 season, there has been no striker that has beaten a 20-goal mark in Mainland Tanzania Premier League.

A good striker in the Mainland Tanzania Premier League can score 10 goals in one season. Before the last matchday of the just-concluded season, about five players had reached that mark, with Ntibazonkiza being one of them.

Soccer followers did not see his contribution because Simba SC has not had much success this year.

The Msimbazi Street-based outfit's fans may also not have had the opportunity to witness such prowess because their club did not win any of the major domestic tournaments' trophies this season.

Numbers hardly lie. In the last two seasons, Ntibazonkiza has been the top scorer for the club, he has better numbers than many of the players that are regarded as young performers in the club and league.

Ntibazonkiza can play for two more seasons at the top level and score 10 goals in either season, based on the nature of the Mainland Tanzania Premier League.

He may be deemed as surplus to requirement at Simba SC but he can still fit in any of the other clubs in the league and adapt and he already proved it when featuring for Geita Gold FC.

The Mainland Tanzania Premier League has many young strikers but they are not in the top five of the list of goal scorers in the just-ended season.

Mayele had - in his two seasons at Young Africans - not managed to net 20 league goals despite having taken the country by storm through his fancy goal celebration.

Mainland Tanzania Premier League teams should value players who score at least 10 goals in a season. As for Ntibazonkiza, age is just a number. He keeps on producing top performances.

Signing new players is always a gamble. Simba SC’s Cameroonian winger Willy Onana was, before joining the squad, the top goal scorer in Rwanda Premier League with 16 goals when turning out for Rayon Sport but, at the Msimbazi Street-based side, the winger failed to replicate his best season at Kigali-based Rayon Sport.

It is a normal story. Aziz Ki had an average season in his first year at Young Africans but, in the just-concluded league, he was the top goal scorer.

Football is an age-old sport that may have a player reach 30 years and would surprisingly be regarded as an old baller.

Young Africans' Ugandan midfielder Khalid Aucho has played football for many years across East Africa, South Africa, India, the Balkan peninsula, and North Africa.

Aucho is, of late, regarded as the best midfielder in Tanzania at 30. In his absence, Young Africans struggled a lot. This means age is not a setback for a player to put his prowess to show in Tanzania.

Simba are indeed set to build their squad with the acquisition of new players next season. Ntibazonkiza could have still served the club for one more season and net goals.

The club can sign a new forward that can net 20+ goals in one season but the Burundian international should have been retained so he can come off the bench and score more goals.

Signing quality players is an area that Simba SC needs to improve if the side is to have the necessary reinforcements. This is an area Simba SC has failed to excel in recent years.

The team will sign many new players next season to build a stronger team but emphasis should be put on bringing in quality footballers. Everything should be done with an eye on fulfilling the club's requirements.

Simba have now missed out on clinching the Premier League title for three years in a row, such a failure has not come about because the outfit was weak, the side, instead, did not have an eye on roping in good players during the transfer windows.

Even though the Msimbazi Street-based club has decided to part ways with Ntibazonkiza, the midfielder deserved one more season at the club given he has been a two-time top goal scorer for Simba SC for two seasons in a row.


PHOTO: COURTESY OF SIMBA SC