TANZANIA's national beach Soccer team has won a bronze medal in the just-ended Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations (BSAFCON) played in Hammamet, Tunisia.
The continental showpiece, which was part of this year's African Beach Games, took place from June 24-30.
After having been one of the featured sports in the inaugural 2019 edition held in Sal, Cape Verde, beach soccer returned to the competitive program in both men’s and women’s categories of this year's edition.
To claim the bronze medal, Tanzania's beach soccer team beat Libya 9-3 in the Group Stage encounter.
Tanzania Olympic Committee (TOC) Secretary-General Filbert Bayi hailed the national beach soccer team's players for the victory.
He said Morocco emerged as the 2023 BSAFCON champion after beating Senegal 4-3 in post-match penalties of the final, which had ended 3-3 in normal time.
“The national beach soccer team won the bronze medal in the just-ended Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations, I'm happy with that achievement and we hope that the team will do well in other future events,” he said.
Before the 2023 BSAFCON, the national beach soccer team, coached by Boniface Pawasa, camped at Coco Beach grounds in Dar es Salaam.
The provisional team is made up of Shaban Kado (Ihefu SC), Adam Oseja (no club), and Ally Haji Juma (JKU, Zanzibar).
Others are Sadiki Salim (Green Warriors), Mtoro Nassoro (Msasani Champions), Ismail Adam (KMC FC), Suleiman Said (Zimamoto, Zanzibar), Abdulrahim Seif, and Yahya Haji (Immigration, Zanzibar).
Others are Juma Sultan and Jaruph Rajabu (no club), Goodluck Dickson (Friends Rangers), Stephano Wales (Mburahati), Salum Abdillah (Ilala FC), and Samson Baraka (Tanzania Prisons).
Recently, TOC’s vice president, Henry Tandau, said Tanzania’s beach soccer team is ranked eighth in Africa.
In the inaugural 2019 edition of the BSAFCON held in Sal, Senegal emerged champions after beating Morocco in the final.
Nigeria claimed the bronze medal in the men’s competition, while in the women’s tournament, the hosts Cape Verde won the gold medal after defeating Algeria.
Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations (BSAFCON) is the main championship for beach soccer in Africa.
The showdown is contested between senior men's national teams who are members of the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
It is the sport's beach version of the better-known Africa Cup of Nations in association football.
The winners of the championship are crowned continental champions, the tournament also acts as the qualification route for African nations to the upcoming edition of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.
Coinciding with the annual staging of the World Cup, the competition took place yearly until 2009, the World Cup then became biennial, and as its supplementary qualification event, the championship followed suit.
The championship was established in 2006 when FIFA made it a requirement for all confederations to begin holding qualification tournaments to determine the best national teams in their region.
For that matter, those who would proceed to represent their continent in the upcoming World Cup (previously, nations were simply invited to play without having to earn their place).
FIFA currently allocates Africa two berths at the World Cup and hence the top two teams (the winners and the runners-up) qualify for the World Cup finals.
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