Tanzania Brings in Foreign Referees to Officiate Kariakoo Derby After Bitter Fallout Between Simba and Yanga

Tanzania Brings in Foreign Referees to Officiate Kariakoo Derby After Bitter Fallout Between Simba and Yanga

Tanzania has been forced to bring in referees from another country to take charge of the Kariakoo Derby after a bitter standoff between Yanga and Simba.

For the first time in the history of Tanzanian football, a league match involving teams in the country will be officiated by a foreign referee.

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Tanzanian football has taken the painful decision to seek outside solutions for internal problems after Yanga made it clear that they would boycott the potential title-deciding Kariakoo Derby against bitter rivals Simba SC unless they were assured over a number of things.

That has forced the Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) to bring in highly-respected Egyptian referees, led by Amin Omar, who will be the centre referee, to be assisted by Mahmoud El Regal and Samir Gamal, also from Egypt.

Another Egyptian Ahmed Elghandour will be the fourth official while a local Alli Mohamed will work on the match as the Referees Assessor.

The highly-awaited clash will be played on Wednesday June 25 at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam with Yanga on 79 points, just one ahead of Simba.

Yanga need a draw to claim a fourth straight league title, while Simba, who won the corresponding fixture 1-0 last October, must win to reclaim the title that has eluded them since the 2020-21 season.

The match was initially set to be played on March 8 but Simba boycotted claiming they had been denied access to the Mkapa Stadium to train ahead of the clash and when it was rescheduled to June 15, Yanga refused to play, saying their rivals had run away from the original clash.

That left the match in limbo, when it needed to be played to determine the league winner, and it took the intervention of President Samia Suluhu Hassan for the two parties to bury the hatchet and agree to end the standoff, leading to the scheduling of June 25 as kickoff date.