Eight NBC League sides battle to avoid demotion

Dar es Salaam. As the Mainland Premier League continues tomorrow with Simba SC hosting Singida Big Stars at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium and Tanzania Prisons facing Mtibwa Sugar, various football tacticians have said teams to be dropped are still unknown.

Simba, who are placed second in the league standings with 50 points from 21 matches, are facing a strong opposition from Singida Big Stars who are placed fourth after collecting 43 points from 21 matches.

However, Geita Gold FC head coach Fred Felix Minziro said the league has gained momentum while two teams are battling for the top spot while eight teams are struggling to avoid the relegation zone.

The teams are Ruvu Shooting who are at the bottom of the league standings with 14 points, Polisi Tanzania are placed 15th with 15 points and Coastal Union of Tanga are placed 14th with 19 points.

Other teams are Dodoma Jiji (13th, 21 points), Tanzania Prisons (12th, 21 points), Ihefu FC are placed in the 11th slot after collecting 23 points and KMC have 23 points and are in the 10th position.

Minziro said so far it is hard to predict the team that will win the title, despite the six point gap between Yanga and Simba

He said the league has now been divided into three groups, whereby Yanga and Simba are in the group fighting for the title while another group has teams that fight for the top 10 finishers and the last group has teams that struggle to avoid relegation.

Yanga are leading the league standings with 56 points, six ahead of Simba and 13 ahead of Azam FC.

Also, in the top five are Geita Gold FC who have so far collected 31 points from 21 matches.

“So far the league trend is known due to the fact that there are teams in the title race, others are in to top five or 10 finishers while others are in the demotion zone.

“We are in a tough league this season when compared with the past and we will have to struggle for recording best results,” said Minziro.