The controversy emerged after the federation announced the Group A match between the team and the former CAF Champions League champions, TP Mazembe to be held on June 28 at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam contrary to June 29 which Yanga preferred.
Yanga, through their Head of Information and communication, Jerry Muro unveiled that their match against Mazembe will instead be held on June 29 and not on June 28 as TFF announced. Muro said his club has mandate to pick the date of the game and decided June 29 a suitable one.
Reached for verification on the actual date of the match, the TFF Information Officer, Alfred Lucas told the Daily News yesterday in Dar es Salaam that the date of the match as per the Confederation of Africans Football (CAF) is June 28 and not otherwise.
“The federation early this week received Yanga and TP Mazembe match information from CAF unveiling that the match will be held on June 28 and with official kick off at 16:00 pm,” he said.
According to Lucas, CAF further went on to reveal the names of the match officials as referee Janny Sikazwe from Zambia who will be assisted by referees Jarson Emiliano dos Santos and Berhe O’Michael from Angola and Eritrea respectively. "…and as affiliates of CAF we abide with the instructions,” he disclosed.
Lucas disclosed that Yanga had wider chance to select the three dates given by CAF for their fixture against TP Mazembe, but they failed to confirm to the Confederation which date they preferred among the three, June 28, 29 and 30, that is why CAF had decided to pick June 28.
However, Lucas unveiled that club officials have approached the federation requesting its assistance in requesting CAF to extend the date of their clash with TP Mazembe from June 28 to June 29 and also extend the match kick off time from 16:00 to 19:30.
According to Lucas reasons given by Yanga to seek the extension of match’s date and kick off time are not strong enough. Yanga who currently pitched their training camp at Antalya in Turkey ahead of TP Mazembe game, are expected to jet in groups on Sunday and Monday as there is no direct flight to accommodate all squad members.
Adding, he said Yanga also claimed the holy month of Ramadan has forced them to request the extension of kick off from 16:00 to 19:30 as some of the players and officials are Moslems.
“Yanga Secretary General came to TFF last night (Tuesday) requesting the federation to assist them in asking CAF to reschedule the match date and kick off time from Tuesday, June 28 to Wednesday June 29 and the kick off time to be 19:30 from 16:00,” he unveiled.
Lucas said the federation has already sent the request to CAF and they are now waiting for their reply but, things stand as they are until further notice from the Confederation.
Hans van der Pluijm squad lost 1-0 to Algeria’s MO Bejaia in their group opener while Mazembe who were demoted from the continent's elite club competition to the Confederation cup won 3-1 against Ghana’s Medeama in Lubumbashi last Sunday.
Other group A match will see Ghana’s Medeama facing Algerian side MO Bejaia in a match to be played at the Sekondi Stadium in Ghana on June 29.
Mazembe is currently leading group A followed by Mo Bejaia while Yanga is in the third slot and Medeama are at the bottom of the group, Yanga and Medeama have no points as they both lost their openers 1-0 and 3-1 respectively.
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