Brazil - Tanzania Friendly Match: Tanzania Football Federation Rakes Hefty Loss For Hosting Samba Boys

High ticket prices meant that the friendly match with Brazil was played in front of a half-empty stadium...

Jun 14, 2010 11:07:00 AM

By M. J. Somoni

More On :  Brazil, Tanzania
Kaka, Nilmar, Elano, Brazil (Goal.com/Abolfazl Amanollah)

Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) has incurred a big financial loss for hosting the international friendly match between Brazil and Taifa Stars early this month in Dar es Salaam, Tanzanian. The federation had projected to rake in $2.4 million but managed only to collect a paltry $1.3million.

TFF’s Secretary General Frederick Mwakalebela confirmed this loss to Daily News yesterday and said the numbed federation would find ways to recover from the financial shock.

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Falling short of saying the amount attained is half of what they had spent to secure the match against the five-time world champions, Mwakalebela would not disclose the actual amount the TFF spent in organizing the match.

Neither would he name the source of the match fee paid to Brazil, although it is an open secret that TFF had secured a loan from NMB to host the historic clash.

"We at TFF run all our affairs with transparency," maintained Mwakalebela, insisting that all answers regarding the 'cash source' that enabled the match to go on as scheduled would be answered when the time was appropriate.

Only 27,255 tickets were sold and the 60,000-seater stadium was left sparse during the game against Dunga's side. The match fee paid to Brazil triggered a heated debate in Tanzania with some people questioning the rationale behind a poor country spending massively on a single match.

"Inviting Brazil was the TFF's responsibility," Minister for Information, Culture and Sports, George Mkuchika said.

"They have taken a bank loan, which they will repay through gate collections, so the government should not be accused of anything," he added.

Many local fans were out priced of attending the historical clash.
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