The Romanian is locked in his country and will not be able to return on time for the league’s resumption
Tanzania Mainland League side Azam FC will be led by Burundian tactician Vivier Bahati for the remainder of the season.
Head coach Aristica Cioaba is currently held up in his native Romania and will not be able to return to Tanzania on time for the resumption of the league season owing to strict measures put in place by the Romanian government owing to the Covid-19 outbreak.
With the Tanzania President allowing games to restart from June 1, the Chamazi-based side have taken measures to fill the gap left by the 48-year-old until he re-joins the team.
“It is not possible to get Cioaba who is currently in Romania,” Azam FC communication officer Thabit Zakaria confirmed to Mwanaspoti.
“So we will have to rely on assistant coach Vivier in the remaining league matches as well as the FA Cup competition. He is on his way from Burundi to guide the team.”
The FA Cup defending champions might also be forced to resume without their seven foreign players.
Ghanaians Yakub Mohamed, Razack Abalora, and Daniel Amoah are some of the players locked in their countries as well as Never Tigere, Donald Ngoma and Bruce Kangwa of Zimbabwe. Uganda international Nicholas Wadada is also a doubt.
Azam FC are second in the top tier with 54 points after playing 28 matches. Simba SC lead the table with 71 matches from the same number of games.
The only realistic chance of Azam getting a continental assignment will be by winning the domestic cup competition. However, Yanga are also chasing the same trophy to get a chance of playing in the Caf Confederation Cup.
Table-toppers Simba SC confirmed on Saturday they had reached out to their four foreign players and they will be arriving in Tanzania on Monday.
The club’s CEO Senzo Mbatha revealed the four – Meddie Kagere (Rwanda), Clatous Chama (Zambia), Francis Kahata (Kenya), and Sharaf Shiboub (Sudan) – will be available for the first training sessions on Wednesday.
On Saturday, the government through the Minister for Information, Culture, Arts, and Sports Harrison Mwakyembe confirmed a maximum of 12 fans will be allowed into the stadium to support their teams.
Mwakyembe further stated each team will need to have all players, including the substitutes and technical bench members, sent for thorough testing before getting onto the field of play.
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