Yanga’s Head of Information and Communications, Ali Kamwe, has continued to spark debate regarding the 2025 Club of the Year award presented to Simba SC by the National Sports Council.
Kamwe questioned the criteria used to determine the winner of the award, especially after reports suggested that Simba’s main achievement considered was reaching the CAF Confederation Cup final.
Through his social media page, Kamwe recalled how Yanga won the same award in 2023 based on several major achievements both domestically and internationally.
According to Kamwe, Yanga received the award that year after:
- Reaching the CAF Confederation Cup Final (CAFCC)
- Winning the Tanzania Mainland Premier League title
- Winning the Azam Federation Cup
Kamwe expressed surprise over what he described as a sudden change in the award selection criteria.
“In 2023, the reasons were clearly explained in front of all stakeholders. Today we are being told that we lack education and do not understand the criteria,” Kamwe questioned.
He further argued that the situation suggests domestic achievements such as league titles and local trophies are no longer being given significant value compared to reaching the latter stages of continental competitions.
In his view, the message being sent by BMT is that even if a team wins several domestic trophies, those achievements are still considered less valuable than reaching a CAF competition final.
Last season, Yanga won every available domestic title including the Community Shield, Premier League, Mapinduzi Cup, Muungano Cup, and CRDB Federation Cup. However, those trophies were not enough for Wananchi to win the award ahead of rivals Simba, who ended the season without a trophy but reached the CAF Confederation Cup final.
