SportPesa takes care of National Stadium

Dar es Salaam. A gaming firm in the country, SportPesa, has completed reseeding and renovating the National Stadium.
The stadium was inaugurated on September 1st in 2007 with an encounter pitting the National soccer team, Taifa Stars, and Uganda’s The Cranes, whereby Tanzania’s side won 1-0. Tanzania’s goal was scored by Abdi Kassim.
After being used for different activities for a period of 10 years, the stadium was closed last year to allow reseeding and renovation exercises by SportPesa that spend over Sh1.4 billion on that purpose.
The renovation was done soon after SportPesa’s historic encounter pitting English Premier League side Everton FC and Gor Mahia of Kenya at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam.
Besides improving the pitch, the gaming company also improved changing rooms for both players and referees. The firm also improved other Stadium’s infrastructure.
SportPesa Administration and Compliance Director Tarimba Abbas said they were devoted to the development of football in the country and that’s why they had decided to continue taking care of the stadium.
Tarimba said the stadium was now having international qualities to allow any international match to be played there.
“We are genuine football stakeholders in the country as we have been doing so since we started our operations in Tanzania on May 9.  This is to support the government which owns the Stadium,” said Tarimba.
According to Tarimba, the renovated stadium is benefiting all Mainland Premier League teams in terms of home and away encounters including Taifa Stars.
 “We have decided to invest in sports, after signing sponsorship contracts with Young Africans, Simba and Singida United. So, we have also been able to expand our support in football by donating Sh50 million to the U-17 national soccer team that featured in Gabon’s African Championships last year. We also sponsored the Higher Institutions Games held in Dodoma last year. Our target has been to develop sports in the country,” he said.