Tanzania national football team
The Tanzania national football team 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 Hemed Morocco from Tanzania. 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.
The island of Zanzibar, part of Tanzania, 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.
History
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.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.
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.
On 19 November 2024 Tanzania won a narrow victory of 1–0 against Guinea which secured their fourth times since 1980. A decisive goal by Simon Msuva sent them to the tournament in 2025. The Afcon finals are scheduled to take place from 21 December 2025 to 18 January 2026 in Morocco.
Team image
Kit suppliers
Results and fixtures
The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.2025
2026
Coaching staff
| Head coach | Vacant | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Assistant coach |  Coaching history
Current squadThe following players were called up for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations between 21 December 2025 and 18 January 2026.''Caps and goals correct as of 4 January 2026, after the match against Morocco.'' Recent call-upsThe following players have been called up for Tanzania in the last 12 months.DEC Player refused to join the team after the call-up. INJ Player withdrew from the squad due to an injury. PRE Preliminary squad. RET Player has retired from international football. SUS Suspended from the national team. Player recordsMost appearances
Top goalscorers
Competitive recordFIFA World CupAfrica Cup of NationsAfrican Nations ChampionshipAfrican GamesGossage Cup / CECAFA CupHonoursRegional
|