Soccer coaches for Brazil

Brazilian Government has volunteered to host a training course for four Tanzanian soccer coaches, the country’s ambassador in Dar es Salaam, Francisco Luz, confirmed yesterday.

The week-long course will be held in Brazil’s biggest city of Sao Paolo from May 17.

The course has been extended to Tanzania in the spirit of co-operation between the two governments as a result of a joint meeting held August 21, 2008.

The selection of the coaches will be limited to those from men and women national football teams (Taifa and Twiga Stars).

The Brazilian ambassador said the initiative has been based on the necessity to improve soccer standard of Tanzanian players.

The ambassador said it is imperative to improve the technical department if the standard of soccer is to make a significant improvement.

According to the ambassador, the coaching programme has been reserved for African countries and three nations, namely Kenya, Zambia and Botswana, are some of the beneficiaries.

“We will be highly pleased to see Tanzania win a qualifier berth to the 2014 World Cup soccer to be held in Brazil,” said the ambassador before media members yesterday.

The Brazilian Government’s contribution to Tanzania’s sports improvement is not only limited to soccer as already a meeting has been held to facilitate volleyball development.

TFF’s president Leodegar Tenga expressed his sincere appreciation to the ambassador for the sporting assistance and admitted that it has been a valuable diplomatic sportsmanship.

Tenga said Brazilian Marcio Maximo, who has been Stars’ coach since 2006, has been pivotal to the country’s soccer development.

Maximo on his part said the short course will be instrumental to football development through domestic coaches.