Chinese Community in Tanzania to host ‘Palm Village Cup’

RELATIONS between the people of Tanzania and China is scaling to greater heights, as the Chinese Community in Tanzania has organized a football friendly tournament between selected members from the two nations.

The match, titled ‘Palm Village Cup’ will be played on December 10th, this year at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam, in a bid to foster and further the interaction and exchange of sports culture between Tanzania and China.

Speaking in Dar es Salaam yesterday, the Director of Confucius Institute at the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM), Prof Yan Liu, said that the tournament is also aimed at enriching the leisure time life of Chinese and Tanzanian people.

According to Liu, this will be the second time to stage such an event. The first event titled ‘Zhou Enlai Cup’ Sino Tanzania Football Friendly was held in July 2015 in Dar es Salaam. The Palm Village Cup second season event will be hosted by the influential Chinese Community in Tanzania-Tanzania Chinese Business Chamber.

The event is also facilitated by the Ministry of Information, Culture, Arts and Sports and the Chinese Embassy. The tournament, according to Liu, is an indoor five-person international standard football and will be officiated by Tanzanian international referees.

At least 15 teams of Chinese companies divided into three groups will compete in the tournament. “Each team will consist of Chinese and Tanzanian members,” he said, noting that the match will be composed of two phases.

He said that the first phase group will be robins and second will be elimination stage. After group round robins, the top eight teams will qualify for the knock out phase. Four teams will enter semi-final before staging the final.

Among teams to line up for the tournament include Confucius Institute, Star Media Tanzania Limited, Chinese Contractors Association (Tanzania) and Africa-China Charity and Cultural. “No entrance fee will be charged for spectators,” he said, asking Tanzanians and Chinese people in Tanzania to come out and cheer to support their favourite teams.