The Tanzania national football team (Swahili: Timu ya Taifa ya Mpira wa Miguu ya Tanzania) represents Tanzania in men's international football and is controlled by the Tanzania Football Federation, the governing body for football in Tanzania, Tanzania's home ground is Benjamin Mkapa National Stadium in Dar-es-Salaam and their head coach is Adel Amrouche from Algeria. They are colloquially known as the Taifa Stars. Tanzania has never qualified for the FIFA World Cup. Before uniting with Zanzibar, the team played as the Tanganyika national football team, The team represents both FIFA and Confederation of African Football (CAF).

Quick Facts Nickname(s), Association ...

Tanzania

Nickname(s)	Taifa Stars
Association	Tanzania Football Federation (TFF)
Confederation	CAF (Africa)
Sub-confederation	CECAFA (East & Central Africa)
Head coach	Hemed Morocco (interim)
Captain	Mbwana Samatta
Most caps	Erasto Nyoni (107)
Top scorer	Mrisho Ngasa (25)
Home stadium	National Stadium
FIFA code	TAN
First colours Second colours Third colours
FIFA ranking
Current	119 (4 April 2024)[1]
Highest	65 (February 1995)
Lowest	175 (October–November 2005)
First international
Uganda 7–0 Tanganyika  (Uganda; Date Unknown 1945) as Tanzania  Tanzania 1–1 Kenya  (Tanzania; 1 March 1969)
Biggest win
Tanzania 7–0 Somalia  (Jinja, Uganda; 1 December 1995)  Somalia 0–7 Tanzania  (Kampala, Uganda; 1 December 2012)
Biggest defeat
Tanganyika 0–9 Kenya  (Tanganyika; Date Unknown 1956) as Tanzania  Saudi Arabia 8–0 Tanzania  (Dammam, Saudi Arabia; 11 September 1998)
Africa Cup of Nations
Appearances	3 (first in 1980)
Best result	Group stage (1980, 2019, 2023)

Close

The island of Zanzibar, part of Tanzania (and once an independent nation), is also an associate member of CAF and has played matches with other nations, but is not eligible to enter the World Cup or Africa Cup of Nations. See Zanzibar national football team.

Tanzania is currently ranked 121st in the FIFA World Rankings.^[2]

Since qualifying for the 1980 Africa Cup of Nations, Tanzania endured nearly 40 years without major success, struggling in both African and World Cup qualifiers. Their best effort was in 2008 Africa Cup of Nations qualification, where the Taifa Stars defeated Burkina Faso twice and only finished three points behind group winners Senegal. In 2010 Tanzania won the CECAFA Cup for the third time.^{[citation needed]}

A recent achievement was a 1–0 win against South Africa in the 2017 COSAFA Cup Quarter-finals. But afterwards, Tanzania lost the Semi-finals 2–4 to Zambia. Then, in the Third-place playoff, Tanzania managed to win the match against Lesotho 4–2 in a penalty shootout after the extra time ended in a goalless draw. This Third place was considered Tanzania's biggest football achievement in many years.^{[citation needed]}

On 24 March 2019, Tanzania beat East African rivals Uganda 3–0 to reach the finals of the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time in 39 years. At the Finals the Taifa Stars, being the weakest team in the group, lost all three Group C matches, as predicted. A few months later, Tanzania qualified for the African Nations Championship for only the second time, as well as defeating Burundi in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.^{[citation needed]}

The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

  Win   Draw   Loss   Fixture

2023

Tanzania  v  Uganda

28 March 2023 AFCON qualification	Tanzania	0–1	Uganda	Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
20:00 UTC+3		Report	Mato 90+1'	Stadium: National Stadium Referee: Ibrahim Kalilou Traore (Ivory Coast)

Tanzania  v  Niger

18 June 2023 AFCON qualification	Tanzania	1–0	Niger	Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
16:00 UTC+3	Msuva 69'	Report		Stadium: National Stadium (Tanzania) Referee: Mohamed Al Sayd (Egypt)

Algeria  v  Tanzania

7 September 2023 AFCON qualification	Algeria	0–0	Tanzania	Annaba, Algeria
20:00 UTC+1		Report		Stadium: 19 May 1956 Stadium Referee: Djindo Louis Houngnandande (Benin)

Sudan  v  Tanzania

15 October Friendly	Sudan	1–1	Tanzania	Taif, Saudi Arabia
19:00 UTC+3	Musab	Report	Bajana	Stadium: King Fahd Sports City

Niger  v  Tanzania

18 November 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification	Niger	0–1	Tanzania	Marrakesh, Morocco
17:00 UTC+1		Report	M'Mombwa 56'	Stadium: Stade de Marrakech Attendance: 178 Referee: Lotfi Bekouassa (Algeria)

Tanzania  v  Morocco

21 November 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification	Tanzania	0–2	Morocco	Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
19:00 UTC+3		Report	Ziyech 28' Mwamnyeto 54' (o.g.)	Stadium: Benjamin Mkapa (National Stadium) Attendance: 60,000 Referee: Abongile Tom (South Africa)

Zanzibar  v  Tanzania

27 December Friendly

Zanzibar

0–0

Tanzania

2024

Egypt  v  Tanzania

7 January Friendly	Egypt	2–0	Tanzania	Cairo, Egypt
18:00 UTC+2	Trézéguet 32' Manula 73' (o.g.)	Report		Stadium: Cairo International Stadium Referee: Hashem Al-Ibrahim (Kuwait)

Morocco  v  Tanzania

17 January 2023 AFCON GS	Morocco	3–0	Tanzania	San Pédro, Ivory Coast
				Stadium: Laurent Pokou Stadium

Zambia  v  Tanzania

21 January 2023 AFCON GS	Zambia	1–1	Tanzania	San Pédro, Ivory Coast
				Stadium: Laurent Pokou Stadium

Tanzania  v  DR Congo

24 January 2023 AFCON GS	Tanzania	0–0	DR Congo	Korhogo, Ivory Coast
				Stadium: Amadou Gon Coulibaly Stadium

Tanzania  v  Bulgaria

22 March 2024 FIFA World Series	Tanzania	0–1	Bulgaria	Baku, Azerbaijan
15:00 UTC+4		Report	Despodov 52'	Stadium: Dalga Arena Attendance: 154 Referee: Aliyar Aghayev (Azerbaijan)

Tanzania  v  Mongolia

25 March 2024 FIFA World Series	Tanzania	3–0	Mongolia	Baku, Azerbaijan
17:00 UTC+4	John 49' Sopu 62' Miroshi 76'	Report		Stadium: Dalga Arena Attendance: 146 Referee: Elçin Məsiyev (Azerbaijan)

Caretaker managers are listed in italics.

As of 21 November 2023^[9]

Players in bold are still active with Tanzania.

• CECAFA Cup
  • Champions (3): 1974, 1994, 2010
  • Runners-up (5): 1973, 1980, 1981, 1992, 2002