Simba players rewarded after AS Vita Club victory
Simba players arrive at the Julius Nyerere International Airport (Terminal 3) in Dar es Salaam, as they return from Kinshasa in the D R Congo where they played against AS Vita Club - and won 1-0. PHOTO | COURTESY
What you need to know:
- According to Simba SC officials, players who played in the match will each take home Sh10 million and those who were potential substitutes would be given Sh5 million
Dar es Salaam. Simba Sports Club’s 1-0 victory over AS Vita has earned the players Sh200 million from the club leadership, The Citizen can reveal.
Simba players and officials arrived back in Tanzania yesterday afternoon to a warm welcome from their fans - and went straight into camp ahead of their Mainland Tanzania Premier League match against Biashara Mara United in Musoma on Thursday.
Simba made history (of sorts) after winning 1-0 in Kinshasa, with a goal scored through a penalty taken by the club’s DR Congo player, Chris Mugalu. According to Simba officials, players in the encounter will each get Sh10 million and those who were on the substitutes’ bench will be given Sh5 million each. Other team members who did not actually play - and were also not on the substitutes bench - will get less than Sh5 million each. Simba Club Chief Executive Officer Barbara Gonzalez would not confirm or deny the information, saying they will release it later. “We will let the public know how much we will give to the players for the victory. I am sure doing this will give them an incentive to perform even better in future,” said Gonzalez.
Apart from that incentive, Gonzalez also said that they prepared well for the match, investing in technology that helped the technical bench and the players to correctly study their opponents before going to clash with them.
“All this has been done aiming to see the team continues to do well in local and international competitions. My role is to ensure we support and give them the required technical bench cooperation so that they can do well in every competition,” she said.
In another development, players and officials from CR Belouizdad of Algeria had their items stolen from their changing room during the match in which they forced a 0-0 draw in the CAF Champions match against TP Mazembe of the D R Congo Saturday.
A spokesman for the north African club told reporters that mobile phones were among the items stollen during the Group B first round match in the southern Congolese city of Lubumbashi. In the same section, Kermit Erasmus scored in the final minute of regular time to seal a 2-0 win for Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa over Al Hilal of Sudan in Pretoria. Esperance of Tunisia went to the top of Group D by coming from behind to edge group debutantes Teungueth of Senegal 2-1 in Tunis - with Ghana-born Basit Abdul Khalid bagging the decisive goal.
Yakhouba Barry, who starred at the recent African Nations Championship, netted five minutes from time in Conakry to clinch a 2-0 win for Horoya of Guinea over Petro Atletico of Angola in Group C.
