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By James Waindi
Zanzibar’s coach Mohammed Morocco has called for the support of Council of East and Central Africa Football Association (CECAFA) and Confederation of African Football (CAF) to ensure they are recognised by world football ruling body Fifa.
Morocco, who steered the team to the quarter-finals where they narrowly lost to 2009 finalists Rwanda, said Zanzibar football fans and players had suffered for many years and that it was time the country was recognised by Fifa.
"If we can manage to reach a quarterfinal of a regional tournament with the kind of situation we are in, we can do better if we play more matches. At the moment, Zanzibar only assembles a national team once a year to prepare for Cecafa and I am urging the regional body to push for our inclusion to the Fifa family so that we can be playing more often and even compete in qualifiers," said Morocco.
Zanzibar is not a member of Fifa and is therefore not eligible to enter the World Cup. But she is a member of the CAF so she can take part in the Africa Cup of Nations and it’s clubs can also compete in continental competitions.
The Island is part of Tanzania, which holds Fifa recognition at the international level. Prior to the union of Zanzibar and Tanganyika in 1964, Zanzibar was a fully independent member of the CAF, but never qualified for the African Nations Cup. It was also an associate member of Fifa between 2007 and 2009.
Meanwhile, the Tanzanian National Assembly has vowed to push for Zanzibar to attain full Fifa membership.
According to the local media, Deputy Minister for Information, Youth, Culture and Sports Fenella Mukangara said that Zanzibar Football Association (ZFA) in support from the Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) and both governments would continue to fight for the move.
She said the Union Government has blessed Zanzibar to seek its own Fifa membership. She also said that last year a delegation from Zanzibar government, ZFA and TFF visited Fifa headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland and the delegation asked the soccer body to include Zanzibar in the list of its members.
But in June this year Fifa responded to the request saying it will not grant Zanzibar their wish because "It is not an independent state recognized by the international community at present nor is it likely to be in the foreseeable future."
"We have not lost hope because we will continue to press for the Zanzibar membership. We will not stop from fighting for the membership despite seeing most of the past attempts ending fruitlessly," said Mukaranga in response to a Member of Tanzania’s Parliament Abdallah Sharia Ameir.
SOURCE : http://www.standardmedia.co.ke
Dear Sir/Madam
ReplyDeleteI just signed the petition "ZANZIBAR FOR FIFA: Fifa Should Accept Zanzibar Membership" and wanted to see if you could help by adding your names and push forward this petition.
Our goal is to reach 1 Million signatures and we need more support. You can read more and sign the petition here:
https://www.change.org/petitions/httpwwwfacebookcomgroupszanzibarforfifa-fifa-should-accept-zanzibar-membership
Please join our facebook page : http://www.facebook.com/groups/zanzibarforfifa/
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