Tanzania Premier League – Format, Champions, Scorers and More
Tanzania’s top-level professional soccer league, the Tanzania Premier League in Swahili it is called ”Ligi-Kuu Tanzania Bara”. The Tanzania Premier League is governed by the Tanzania Soccer Federation. In 1965, the “National Championship” was established. It was later renamed the “1st Division Football League” before being renamed the “Premier Championship” at the beginning of 1997.
Competition Format
The TPL [Tanzania Premier League] is played in a traditional two round-robin system, with each side facing each other twice, at home and away.
The champion of the Tanzania FA trophy [Football Association challenge Cup] has qualified automatically for the CAF [Confederations of the African Football Cup] since the 2015–16 football season. Previously, the Premier championship runner-up had qualified automatically for the CAF Confederations Cup. The league’s worst three finishers are demoted to the League one division for the following football season.
Beginning with the 2018–19 Football season, the premier league is made up of 20 clubs that play a double including the Tanzania Premier League. The title winner advances to the CAF Champions Tournament, while the second-placed team advances to the Confederations of the African Football Cup [CAF]. The bottom two seeded teams are demoted to the Championship level, while the 17th, as well as the 18th, placed teams compete in a play-off against the third and fourth-seeded teams from the 1st Division.
Champions
Tanzania Premier League Wins by Year
Previous champions include:
| 1965: Sunderland [Dar City )
1966: Sunderland [Dar City] 1967: Cosmopolitans F.C. [Dar City) 1968: Young Africans Football.Club. [Dar City) 1969: Young Africans F.C. [Dar City) 1970: Young Africans F.C. [Dar City) 1971: Young Africans Football.Club. [Dar City) 1972: Young Africans F.C. [Dar City) 1973: Simba F.C. [Dar es Salaam) 1974: Young Africans F.C. [Dar City) 1975: Mseto F.C. [Dar City) 1976: Simba F.C. [Dar City) 1977: Simba Football. Club. [Dar City) 1978: Simba F.C. [Dar City) 1979: Simba Football. Club. [Dar City) 1980: Simba Football. Club. [Dar City) 1981: Young Africans F.C. [Dar City) 1982: Pan African Football. Club. [Dar City) 1983: Young Africans F.C. [Dar City) 1984: KMKM [ Zanzibar Island] 1985: Majimaji Football. Club. [Ruvuma] 1986: Majimaji Football. Club. [Ruvuma) 1987: Young Africans Football. Club. [Dar City) 1988: Coastal Union Football.Club. [ Tanga] 1989: Malindi Football. Club [Zanzibar] 1990: Pamba Football. Club [Mwanza] 1991: Young Africans Football. Club [Dar City] 1992: Malindi Football. Club [Zanzibar] 1993: Simba Football. Club. [Dar City] |
1994: Simba F.C. [Dar CITY)
1995: Simba Football. Club. [Dar) 1996: Young Africans F.C. [Dar City) 1997: Young Africans F.C. [Dar City) 1998: Majimaji Football. Club. [Ruvuma) 1999: Prisons [Mbeya] 2000: Young Africans F.C. [Dar City) 2001: Simba F.C. [Dar City) 2002: Simba Football.Club. [Dar City) 2003: season cancelled 2004: Football. Club. [Dar City) 2005: Young Africans F.C. [Dar City) 2006: Young Africans Football.Club. [Dar City) 2007: Simba Football. Club. (Dar City) [mini league] 2007–08: Young Africans F.C. [Dar City) 2008–09: Young Africans Football. Club. [Dar City) 2009–10: Simba Football. Club. [Dar City) 2010–11: Young Africans F.C. [Dar City) 2011–12: Simba Football. Club [Dar City) 2012–13: Young Africans Football. Club. [Dar City) 2013–14: Azam Football. Club. [Dar City) 2014–15: Young Africans Football. Club [Dar City) 2015–16: Young Africans Football. Club. [Dar City) 2016–17: Young Africans F.C. [Dar City) 2017–18: Simba Football. Club. [Dar City) 2018–19: Simba Football. Club [Dar City) 2019–20: Simba Football. Club. [Dar City) 2020–21: Simba Football. Club. [Dar City) |
Tanzania Premier League Wins by Club
| Club | Wins |
| Young Africans | 22 |
| Simba (includes Sunderland) | 21 |
| Maji Maji | 3 |
| Malindi | 2 |
| Prisons | 1 |
| Coastal Union | 1 |
| KMKM | 1 |
| Cosmopolitans | 1 |
| Pamba | 1 |
| Pan African | 1 |
| Mseto Sports | 1 |
| Azam | 1 |
Tanzania Premier League Top scorers
| Year\Seasons | Best Goal scorers | Teams | Number of Goals | |
| 1997 season | Mohamed H. “Mmachinga” | Young Africans[Dar City) | 26 | |
| 2004 season | Abubakar Ally M. | Mtibwa Sugar[Turiani] | ||
| 2005 season | Abdallah Juma | Mtibwa Sugar[Turiani] | 25 | |
| 2006 season | n/a | n/a | ||
| 2007 season | Mashiku | SC United | 17 | |
| 2007–08 season | Michael Katende | Kagera Sugar[Bukoba] | ||
| 2008–09 season | Boniface Ambani | Young Africans[Dar City) | 18 | |
| 2009–10 season | Musa Hassan M. | Simba[Dar City) | 18 | |
| 2010–11 season | Mrisho Ngasa | Azam[Dar City) | 18 | |
| 2011–12 season | John Raphael B. | Azam[Dar City) | 19 | |
| 2012–13 season | Kipre Tchetche | Azam[Dar City) | 17 | |
| 2013–14 season | Amissi Tambwe | Simba[Dar City) | 19 | |
| 2014–15 season | Simon Msuva | Young Africans[Dar City) | 17 | |
| 2015–16 season | Amissi Tambwe | Young Africans[Dar City) | 21 | |
| 2016–17 season | Simon Msuva | Young Africans[Dar City) | 14 | |
| 2017–18 season | Emmanuel Okwi | Simba[Dar City) | 20 | |
| 2018–19 season | Meddie Kagere | Simba[Dar City) | 23 | |
| 2019–20 season | Meddie Kagere | Simba | 22 | |
| 2020–21 season | John Bocco | Simba | 16 |
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