Singida Fountain Gate FC
Wikipedia - Singida Fountain Gate F.C.
Singida Fountain Gate Football Club, commonly referred to as Singida Fountain Gate or Singida FG is a professional football club based in Singida, Tanzania. The club competes in the NBC Premier League, the top division in the Tanzania football league system. They were founded as Diamond Trust Bank Football Club in 2010, but changed their name to Singida Big Stars Club in 2022 and later to Singida Fountain Gate FC in 2023.
History
Singida Fountain Gate FC was founded in 2010 as a team of DTB Bank employees known as Diamond Trust Bank Football Club (DTB FC) before changing their name. DTB FC later gained popularity after performing well in bank bonanzas throughout the country, prompting the bank's leadership to invest in the team officially and advocate for it to compete in the First Division League (Championship). In 2022, DTB Bank discontinued their ownership of the football team in order to focus on its core banking functions after the club gained promotion to the Premier League. This gave stakeholders in the Singida Region the opportunity to purchase the team and change its name from DTB FC to Singida Big Stars similar to Singida United.
In 2022–2023 season, the Singida Big Stars Club began playing in the Tanzanian Premier League. The team performed well by recruiting high-quality international players as well as players from major Tanzanian clubs such as Simba, Yanga, Azam, Mtibwa, Mbeya City, and others. The Singida Big Stars club's success is built on the calibre of its players, technical bench, and strong leadership. The club placed fourth (4th) in their debut season and qualified for the 2023–24 CAF Confederation Cup.
After a successful 2022–23 season, ahead of the 2023–24 season, Singida Big Stars Club investor Fountain Gate Academy showed interest in purchasing the club with the intention of improving and modernising it. Following the acquisition, Singida Big Stars merged with Fountain Gate Academy to become the new name of Singida Fountain Gate FC.
SGFC:s hemmastadion är Namfua Stadium, som har en kapacitet på cirka 20 000 personer. Klubbens färger är grönt och vitt, och deras smeknamn är "Wanakijiume", som betyder "de som aldrig ger upp" på luo.
Singida Fountain Gate FC ägs av Fountain Gate Church, en evangelisk kyrka med huvudkontor i Tanzania. Klubben har ett nära samarbete med kyrkan, och många av deras spelare och anställda är medlemmar i kyrkan.
Sedan klubben grundades har SGFC snabbt stigit i graderna inom tanzanisk fotboll. De vann Tanzania Second Division League 2018-19 och befordrades till Tanzanias Premier League för säsongen 2019-20. Under sin debutsäsong i den högsta divisionen slutade SGFC på en respektabel sjätte plats.
SGFC är kända för sin attackinriktade spelstil och har gjort sig ett namn som ett av de mest spännande lagen i Tanzaniens Premier League. Laget leds av tränaren Hans van der Pluijm, en holländsk före detta fotbollsspelare som tidigare har tränat klubbar i Nederländerna, Belgien och Kenya.
Några av SGFC:s mest kända spelare inkluderar mittfältaren Said Ndemla, anfallaren Hassan Dilunga och försvararen Juma Nyoso. Klubben har också ett antal lovande unga spelare, och de ser ut att ha en ljus framtid inom tanzanisk fotboll.