Luc Eymael of Yanga SC.TFF.

Sacked Yanga SC coach Eymael banned by TFF for calling Tanzanian fans monkeys

The Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) has cracked the whip and meted out punishment on fired Young Africans (Yanga SC) coach Luc Eymael.

The 60-year-old Belgian was sacked by the Jangwani Street-based giants a week ago for alleged racist remarks when he compared the country's fans to monkeys in an astonishing tirade.

Eymael made the remarks immediately after Yanga had secured a 1-1 draw against Mtivwa Sugar, which saw the team drop from the second spot in the 20-team league table, by tearing into the club's supporters, whom he claimed were ignorant about football and lambasted the conditions he had been working in since arriving in Tanzania.

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"The fans can only shout and are like monkeys who are barking ‘babababa’," Eymael told local journalists in audio obtained by Goal. "These fans do not know anything about soccer.

"This place is not for me, playing in pitches at a level of seventh or eighth division in Europe is not for me. The changing rooms, too, are not for me.

"I am not enjoying your country, you are uneducated people. I don’t have a car, what is that?

"I do not have wifi and I do not have DSTV. No, no, no!"

The TFF has now issued a statement confirming they have decided to ban the coach for two years and also fine him Tsh8million for his uncouth conduct.

“The TFF disciplinary committee has decided to ban coach Luc [Eymael] for two years and also fine him Tsh8million for the racist comments he made towards Yanga fans,” stated the statement by TFF on their social media pages.

During the audio interview, Eymael also announced he was looking to leave the East African giants and depart Tanzania for good.

"My wife is absolutely not enjoying here and this is disgusting to me, I am disgusted,” he continued.

“The only pleasure that I have is the pitches are always full when we are playing, full of our fans, but working in these conditions is not for me.

“I do not want to stay here. I would prefer that they release me let me just do my last game and let me go."

Eymael also proceeded to accuse the referees of bias, claiming that the country's officials were favourable to Yanga's bitter rivals Simba.

“You know, [the] officiating was always against us and [was] only favouring Simba, not giving us even a clear penalty," he complained.

 "Things like that are not for me.

“I said to the sponsor: Do your own things and you cannot be able to win the league because you are not an organised team, you are not an organised club.

“The officiating is always against you because you are a poor club.”

In a recent interview with Goal, Eymael defended himself from the racist allegations, claiming he has never been a racist and never will be.

“I am not a racist, and you know that very well,” Eymael told Goal. “I have coached in Africa for the last ten years and my record is there to speak for itself, I have never gone to the extent of being a racist because I am not a racist.

“I don’t want to dwell on what happened, because it already happened, I apologised immediately to Yanga fans and Tanzanian people because of the comments and now it is time to move on.

“You can see even some players from Yanga are supporting me, even those I worked with in Kenya are behind me, because they know I am not a racist, this issue has been too much for me now, and gone too far, it is even destroying my family and kids.

“I don’t want to talk anything about it anymore.”

Eymael has previously worked in South Africa, Egypt, Algeria, and Tunisia.

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