Dar es Salaam. Thousands of jubilant supporters flooded the streets of Dar es Salaam on Sunday as Simba Sports Club staged a grand victory parade to celebrate lifting the 2025/26 CRDB Federation Cup, marking the club’s first major domestic trophy in five years.
The celebrations came less than 24 hours after Simba edged Azam FC 1-0 in the CRDB Federation Cup final at Jang’ombe Stadium in Pemba, ending a long wait for silverware and giving their supporters a reason to reclaim the country’s football spotlight.
The procession began shortly after the team landed at Julius Nyerere International Airport from Pemba. Thousands of fans gathered to welcome the players before escorting the squad through the city aboard the club’s new Irizar team bus.
Leading the convoy was club spokesperson Ahmed Ally, proudly displaying the CRDB Federation Cup trophy as the parade wound its way through Dar es Salaam’s major roads. Supporters lined the streets waving red-and-white flags, singing club anthems and celebrating alongside the players.
The celebrations also carried an element of football rivalry.
Only a day earlier, newly crowned NBC Premier League champions Young Africans SC had held their own championship parade through the city, with their procession passing Simba’s Msimbazi headquarters in a symbolic display of supremacy after securing a fifth consecutive league title.
Simba’s supporters responded in kind.
Their convoy travelled along Nyerere Road before connecting to Kawawa Road and the Kigogo roundabout, eventually passing the Young Africans headquarters at Jangwani and through Kariakoo, where thousands of fans surrounded the area chanting songs aimed at their traditional rivals.
The celebrations culminated at Coco Beach, where supporters packed the beachfront venue for an entertainment festival featuring performances by local musicians and speeches from club officials promising an even stronger campaign next season.
Although the Federation Cup was Simba’s only major domestic title this season, club officials described it as the beginning of a new chapter.
“Even if it is just one trophy, for us it is a good start,” Ahmed Ally told supporters, thanking Simba fans for standing by the club throughout the campaign and joining the celebrations.
Despite finishing runners-up in the 2025/26 NBC Premier League with 73 points, just two behind champions Young Africans, Simba ended the season with two trophies after also winning the Muungano Cup in Zanzibar.
Their continental campaign, however, ended in the group stage of the 2025/26 CAF Champions League, leaving the Federation Cup triumph as the club’s biggest achievement of the season and a platform from which they hope to challenge for more honours in the new campaign.