Taifa Stars head coach Marcio Maximo celebrating his team's second goal against Uganda during the African Nations Cup qualifier tie for domestic based players at the CCM Kirumba stadium on Saturday. Stars won 2-0 to keep alive hopes of progressing into the next round.

Tanzania Footbal Federation pays price for hiking Stars'entry fee

The Tanzania Football Federation paid the price for a hiked entry fee at Saturday's African Nations Championship qualifiers for domestic based players between Taifa Stars and Uganda Cranes.

A paltry Sh36,880,000 was collected from 6,602 spectators who turned up, while TFF information officer Florian Kaijage said about 258 spectators paid for the main stand where the entry fee was set at Sh20,000 a seat, earning TFF Sh5,160,000.

The rest of the stands in the 25,000 capacity stadium attracted 6,344 spectators who paid Sh5,000 entry fee, chalking up a gross revenue of Sh31,720,00.

TFF netted Sh24,496,650,00 after deducting expenditures linked to ticket printing (Sh4,217,800), match expenses (Sh3,266,220), referees and match commissioners (Sh13,812,000) and CAF fees (3,266,220), he elaborated.

The reason for paltry gate collections was high entry fees set by the federation, local observers noted.

Capt (rtd) George Mkuchika, the Minister for Information, Culture and Sports who was the guest of honour during the match said the entry fee kept most of the would be spectators at home.

"Its high time that TFF reviews gate collections policy so that it is affordable to soccer fans and TFF capitalizes on the sales volume," said Mkuchika.

Stars sent The Cranes on a stagger with a 2-0 score at the final whistle, with the return leg tie set for May 17 at the Nelson Mandela Stadium in Kampala.