| Clubname: | Yanga |
| Fullname: | Young Africans Sports Club |
| Nickname: | Wananchi Fc Vijana Stars (The Young Stars) Wananchi (kiboko) |
| Founded: | , as New Young |
| President: | Eng Hersi Said [1] |
| Chrtitle: | President |
| Manager: | Miguel Gamondi[2] |
| Stadium: | Benjamin Mkapa Stadium |
| Capacity: | 60,000 |
| League: | Tanzanian Premier League |
| Season: | 2023–24 |
| Position: | 1st (champions) |
| Pattern La1: | _yellow_border |
| Pattern Ra1: | _yellow_border |
| Leftarm1: | 007063 |
| Body1: | 007063 |
| Rightarm1: | 007063 |
| Shorts1: | 007063 |
| Socks1: | 007063 |
| Pattern La2: | _yellow_border |
| Pattern Ra2: | _yellow_border |
| Pattern So2: | _yellowtop |
| Leftarm2: | 00573F |
| Body2: | D7B821 |
| Rightarm2: | 00573F |
| Shorts2: | 00573F |
| Socks2: | 00573F |
| Website: | https://yangasc.africa/ |
| Current: | 2023-2024 Young Africans season |
Young Africans Sports Club (commonly referred as Yanga) is a Tanzanian professional football club based at Jangwani ward of Ilala District in Dar es Salaam Region, Tanzania. Founded in 1935, the club plays their home games at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Chang'ombe ward of Temeke District.
Nicknamed Yanga Timu ya Wananchi,[3] the club has won 30 Tanzanian Premier League titles and number of domestic cups, and have participated in multiple CAF Champions League editions. They have won the CECAFA Club Championship five times.
The club was ranked among the top ten clubs in Africa, at number 80, by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) in their 1 September 2022 – 30 August 2023 rankings. Globally, the club was ranked at number 104 in the IFFHS World Ranking.[4] [5]
The club became a symbol of the anti-colonial movement. Young Africans became associated with nationalists, freedom fighters and Sam Gosmore and inspired the political party TANU to adopt yellow and green as their primary colours. The club is currently in a process that will keep the club ownership 49% for investors and the rest 51% to the club members.
The club holds a long-standing rivalry with Simba, with whom they contest the Kariakoo derby, named after the district where both teams were founded. The rivalry was ranked 5th as one of the most famous African derbies.[6]
On Wednesday, 17 May 2023, Young Africa made history when they became the first Tanzanian club to reach a CAF Confederation Cup final after defeating Marumo Gallants 4-1 on aggregate and they faced USM Algiers from Algeria on the Cup's Finals which they lost 2-2 on aggregate due to away goals .[7] [8] [9]
After winning the Tanzania Premier League Championship for a third consecutive time in the 2023-24 season, Yanga achieved a historical milestone of winning the country's Premier League title for the 30th time.
The club's roots can be traced as far back as 1910s, but the officially recognised history of the club started in 1935 when Dar es Salaam residents, who were grouped as Africans by the colonial administration in Tanganyika, decided to form a football club to compete in a league which was full of "non-African" football clubs. The name New Young is said to be the club's first name. Later it was replaced by the name Dar es Salaam Young Africans SC, and eventually the name changed to Young Africans Sports Club.
After its establishment in 1935, its members squabbled over their team's poor performance and results. The club had an even poorer and unsatisfactory performance in 1936 that caused some of the members to split and form another team. The proponents of breaking away were Arabs who saw fit to cause conflict among the club members that led to a split. They succeeded, and together with dissidents formed a club known as Queens F.C. /sunderland fc (currently Simba). The two teams, Young Africans and Simba, have been rivals ever since.
In 2020 Yanga signed a consultancy deal with La Liga.[10] On May 27, the members of the club agreed to change their club's ruling structure to allow private investments from other companies.
On 17 May 2023, Yanga for the first time in its history qualified to a Continental final after defeating Marumo Gallants in the semi-final.[11] On 3 June, Yanga Lost the 2023 CAF Confederation Cup final against USM Alger On Saturday, 16 September 2023, Yanga became the first African club to have over 2000 fans traveling with the team to an away CAF official match. The game was conducted at Kigali in Rwanda, a journey of 1156 km, which is over 20 hour drive distance. They bossed the game and of course thwarted the Sudanese side 2-0. .[12] [13]
The club has been led democratically by various top leaders since it was started, first leader being Ali Said followed by Musa Sulaiman. The current top leader is Engineer Hersi Said.
| Period | Chairman | |
|---|---|---|
| 1935–1939 | Ali Said | |
| 1945–1947 | Musa Suleiman | |
| 1948–1950 | G. Khalifan | |
| 1950–1953 | Hamis Penda | |
| 1953–1954 | Nasib Mwande | |
| 1955–1961 | Hafidh Mkweche | |
| 1961–1962 | Abdul Jaffer | |
| 1963–1971 | Abass Kandoro | |
| 1972–1977 | Salim Salim | |
| 1978–1980 | Mohamed Gulamhussein | |
| 1980–1986 | Abass Kandoro | |
| 1986–1989 | Mustapha Mwituka | |
| 1989–1993 | Hassan Muhiddin | |
| 1994–1999 | Tarimba Abbas | |
| 1999–2000 | Rashid Kawawa | |
| 2000–2005 | Francis Kifukwe | |
| 2007–2010 | Imani Madega | |
| 2010–2012 | Lloyd Nchunga | |
| 2012–2019 | Yusuf Manji | |
| 2019–2022 | Mshindo Msola | |
| 2022–present | Eng Hersi Said |
| Period | Main Sponsor | Other Sponsors | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996–1999 | Biafra | ||
| 2001–2005 | Kilimanjaro Beer | ||
| 2005–2008 | Superdoll | ||
| 2009–2015 | Kilimanjaro Premium | ||
| 2015–2020 | SportPesa | ||
| 2020–2021 | SportPesa | GSM Group | |
| 2021–present | SportPesa | GSM Group |
15 appearances [18]
1997 – Preliminary Round
1998 – Group stage (Top 8)
2001 – Second Round
2006 – Preliminary Round
2007 – Second Round
2009 – First Round
2010 – Preliminary Round
2012 – Preliminary Round
2014 – First Round
2016 – Second Round
2017 – First Round
2022 – First Round
2023 – Quarter finals
1969 – Quarter-finals
1970 – Quarter-finals
1971 – withdrew in Second Round
1972 – First Round
1973 – First Round
1975 – Second Round
1982 – Second Round
1984 – First Round
1988 – First Round
1992 – First Round
1996 – Preliminary Round
6 appearances
2007 – Intermediate Round
2008 – First Round
2011 – Preliminary Round
2016 – Group stage (Top 8)
2018 – Group stage (Top 16)
2022–23 – Runners-up
2 appearances
1994 – First Round
1999 – First Round
2 appearances
1995 – Quarter-finals
2000 – First Round