Simba Sports Club is a professional football club based in Kariakoo ward in Ilala District of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.

It was founded in 1936 as "The Queens" before being renamed to Sunderland and, in 1971, was finally renamed Simba (Swahili for "Lion"). The team's nickname, wekundu wa msimbazi ("the Red Lions"), is a reference to their all-red home strip and Msimbazi Street in Kariakoo where their headquarters is based.

Simba SC has won 22 Tanzanian Premier League titles, 5 Tanzania FA Cup and has participated in CAF Champions League multiple times. Simba are two times finalists of CAF Confederation Cup, In the year 2025 and previous CAF cup in 1993 making the club the most successful Tanzanian football club in international competitions.

The club was ranked among the top 20 clubs in Africa, at number 04, by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) in their May 1, 2024 – April 30, 2025 rankings. Globally, the club was ranked at number 105 in the IFFHS World Ranking.

Simba holds a long-standing rivalry with Young Africans S.C. (known as Yanga) with which they contest the Kariakoo derby, named after the ward, where both teams were founded. In 1977 Simba beat Yanga 6-0 a record that stands to date as the biggest loss margin between the sides. The rivalry was ranked 5th as one of the most famous African derbies. It remains one of the best derbies on the African continent.

Honours

Domestic

Tanzanian Premier League

• Winner (22): 1965, 1966, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1993, 1994, 1995, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2009–10, 2011–12, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2020–21

Nyerere Cup

• Winner (3): 1984, 1995, 2000

FAT Cup

• Winner (5): 1995, 2016–17, 2019–20, 2020–2021, 2025–26

• Runners-up (3): 1974, 1998, 2000

Muungano Cup

• Winner (1): 2025–26

Dar es Salaam League

• Winner (2): 1944, 1946

Tusker Cup

• Winner (5): 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2005

• Runners-up (1): 2006

Community Shield

• Winner (10): 2002, 2003, 2005, 2011, 2012, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2023

• Runners-up (3): 2001, 2010, 2021

Mapinduzi Cup

• Winner (3): 2011, 2015, 2022

• Runners-up (5): 2014, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021

Continental

CECAFA Club Championship

• Winners (6): 1974, 1991, 1992, 1995, 1996, 2002

• Runners-up (7): 1975, 1952, 1978, 1981, 2003, 2011, 2018

CAF Cup

• Runners-up (1): 1993

CAF Confederation Cup

• Runners-up (1): 2024–25

Colours and badge

Players

Current squad

Performance in CAF competitions

CAF Champions League: 12 appearances

• 2002 – First Round

• 2003 – Group stage (Top 8)

• 2004 – Preliminary Round

• 2005 – First Round

• 2008 – First Round

• 2011 – Special play-off for Group stage

• 2013 – Preliminary Round

• 2018–19 – Quarter-finals

• 2019–20 – Preliminary Round

• 2020–21 – Quarter-finals

• 2021–22 – Second Round

• 2022–23 – Quarter-finals

• 2023–24 – Quarter-finals

• 2025–26 – Group stage

African Cup of Champions Clubs: 9 appearances

• 1974 – Semi-finals

• 1976 – Second Round

• 1977 – Second Round

• 1978 – Second Round

• 1979 – Second Round

• 1980 – Second Round

• 1981 – First Round

• 1994 – Quarter-Finals

• 1995 – Second Round

CAF Confederation Cup: 6 appearances

• 2007 – Preliminary Round

• 2010 – Second Round

• 2011 – Play-off

• 2012 – Second Round

• 2018 – First Round

• 2021–22 – Quarter-finals

• 2024–25 – Runners-up

CAF Cup: 2 appearances

• 1993 – Finalist

• 1997 – First Round

Club Ranking

World

CAF

Domestic

Kit Sponsorship

Notes

References

External links