Debates sparked after the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) released the current rankings, however, the reality is that the Premier League has made tremendous improvements.
In different tenures for both government and federation, the leaders and stakeholders have sacrificed a lot to elevate local football to the next level as it is now ranked fifth in Africa.
Premier League teams are lately roping in top players, both local and foreign, Tanzania's pay Television firm, Azam Media Limited, is the league's Television broadcast partner, signing multi-million deals to invest in the local football.
One of the initial steps that led to success was the establishment of the Tanzania Premier League Board (TPLB).
The challenge is that in the beginning there was a problem in decision-making. TPLB was there but all decisions were still made by the Tanzania Football Federation (TFF).
The decisions that would have been made by the board remained ineffective and the work became difficult.
However, the entry of the current TFF president, Wallace Karia, changed many things. Almasi Kasongo, now operating as the TPLB Chief Executive Officer, has much authority.
The TFF leadership began by relocating the TPLB office to a more prestigious place and the board hired more staff. Such a move had a big impact.
It began to set plans to improve the local league. The board's leadership emphasized the quality of soccer pitches. Each team should have a dignified stadium and playing area.
Low-standard pitches were closed and the clubs ultimately felt there was a need to manage the venues.
The board managed many of the basic issues of the clubs' operation. The discipline among clubs improved and everyone followed the board's management.
Secondly, Azam Media Limited increased its investment. Then the firm decided to broadcast all Premier League matches. The firm had great cooperation with the board by seeing to it the former arranges a TV-friendly schedule for the latter.
Until now Tanzania is one of the few countries in Africa where all Premier League matches are telecast live. It is really impressive.
To ensure that everything goes well, Azam Media Limited volunteered to install floodlights in four stadiums in the country to increase the number of night matches.
They installed the floodlights at Kaitaba Stadium (Kagera), Majaliwa Stadium (Lindi), Jamhuri Stadium (Dodoma), and Mkwakwani Stadium (Tanga).
Now the league has had enough night matches, given out of the 16 stadiums used in the league, six have floodlights.
It is a very significant step. Azam Media Limited has moreover increased the amount of advertising rights.
Each team gets a profit of more than 500m/- per season and these funds are directed to pay players salaries.
This helps to eliminate the claims from players that they have spent several months without being paid. The good thing about Azam Media Limited is that the firm's funds always come out on time.
They also added prizes handed to the winners. Today the Premier League champion earns more than 500m/-, and the team that ranks fourth gets more than 200m/-.
These changes have greatly increased the quality of the league and the quality of life for the players.
Despite all the quality, refereeing has been extremely challenging. Many teams have been complaining about such aspects.
At the beginning of this season, there have been controversial decisions issued by match officials.
A football follower might watch a match and wonder whether the referee taking charge of the tie knows football laws well or if he/she is doing it on purpose.
Dangerous fouls on players result in yellow cards shown to players that have committed such fouls, fouls that warrant penalties are not taken into consideration while penalties, which should never been counted, are allowed.
Some clear offsides are allowed, opponents complain and nothing happens. This hurts a lot.
It hurts a lot once a club registers talented players who are paid well, only to end up witnessing match officials discourage the players with wrong decisions.
Teams are unfairly defeated, they should be beaten fairly and, that way, the local football will make progress.
It should get to a point where the players see the competition is fair. They will step up. The players should not feel they will be bullied when they play against a certain team.
Match officials must also protect all players. Soccer fanatics saw what happened to Simba SC's center-back, Henock Inonga, who was on the receiving end of Coastal Union forward Hija Ugando's harsh tackle when the two outfits locked horns in a Premier League duel at Uhuru Stadium in Dar es Salaam last month.
The tackle has left Inonga sidelined. A player might intentionally commit a foul with clear knowledge the referee will not do anything.
Referee Ahmed Arajiga, who officiated the Simba SC vs. Coastal Union duel, at least, showed Ugando a straight red card.
It was a different scenario to a similar incident that happened to Yanga's defender, Joyce Lomalisa, who was roughly tackled by Namungo FC's winger, Hashim Manyanya, and the latter got away with it.
Players' safety is very important, they must play smartly and protect each other. Domestic match officials must protect them too.
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