A new Sultan in Zanzibar

Egyptian coach Abdel-Fattah Abbas is officially in charge of developing football on the archipelago of Zanzibar, Tanzania, whose locals view him with admiration

In the old Stone Town, the capital of Zanzibar, he likes to have lunch. There he is: in a small restaurant whose typical, local cuisine of various fish, chicken, and rice dishes attracts both bank and local businesses employees. He's welcomed with honours that go beyond those reserved for regular customers.
Because the man is important here, Abdel-Fattah Abbas, an Egyptian coach, is the official football expert on this Indian Ocean archipelago, part of Tanzania. In Stone Town and other villages in Zanzibar, a clay football field always occupies an important space of the lush, green landscape. Young and old alike come here to train or play a game at all hours of the day.
"It is true that people do not sleep late here. But they get up very early to devote themselves to sports. At 6am they are on the beach for their daily jog. It's pretty amazing, 90 per cent of people in Zanzibar: children, youth and adults, play sports every day," he reveals.
This explains why his performance as a coach is scrutinised by the local population. And given the accolades he gets from the pedestrians when he walks through the narrow streets of the capital, his work is appreciated.
"Welcome back coach," "I saw you in the newspaper coach" ... words of encouragement increases along the way.
"People are extremely nice and generous. It's really a feature of Zanzibar," he says before answering in Swahili to his admirers.
Abdel-Fattah Abbas has been appointed two years now in Zanzibar, through the action of the Egyptian Fund for African cooperation, whose mission is to provide experts in various sectors, including football, to African countries. He is in charge of everything related to football on the island.
"Before arriving, I had never heard of Zanzibar. I had to do some research online to see where I was to set foot," he recalls with a smile.
"In Zanzibar, the championship has three different leagues. The first two have 12 clubs each and the third an open number of clubs," he says. "I set up a system of team competition where the most efficient access the regional competitions," he adds.
The latest is the CECAFA Cup, an annual international competition bringing together teams of Eastern and Western Africa. The 2011 competition, number 35, was held for the second time in Tanzania, and ended on 10 December. The Zanzibar team has reached the second round after losing 2-1 against Rwanda while Uganda won the title. Earlier in the competition, Zanzibar won 3-0 against Somalia prior to a draw (1-1) against Burundi. "But in 2009 we won the bronze medal in the CECAFA, it was my first time in competition with Zanzibar," he likes to recall.
"Zanzibar has good players, operating in difficult conditions. They differ even more from other teams on the continent, who are very spoiled and demand luxury hotels for all their movements, without giving very good results. In contrast, my players are admirable," says the coach, proudly.
As proof that the island has many good players "the Egyptian club Al-Canal has accepted a player that I had proposed."
The Zanzibar archipelago is semi-independent from Tanzania. It has a national unity government called the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar.
It cannot, however, claim to be part of the FIFA or CAF (African Football Confederation). For Abdel-Fattah Abbass, this is "yet one of the biggest dreams of the Zanzibaris."
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