The Tanzania Volleyball Federation (TVF) has unveiled plans to introduce a new long-term national league system from January 2027 as part of efforts to build a sustainable pathway for players from grassroots level to professional competition.
TVF president Eng Magoti Mtani said preparations for the upcoming season were different from previous years because the federation was laying the groundwork for the new competition structure.
Speaking to The Respondent Online, Eng Mtani said the planned National Volleyball League would form part of a broader strategy aimed at making volleyball increasingly self-sustaining through player development, competitive leagues and improved administration.
“The preparations are slightly different from the other seasons I found because we are preparing a long-term National Volleyball League,” he said.
According to Eng Mtani, the first five to six months of 2027 will be used to prepare and organise regional leagues before the new national system becomes fully operational.
The plan is outlined in the TVF Strategic Business Plan for 2026-2028, which seeks to establish a structured volleyball development system capable of producing players and competitions that can support the sport commercially.
Eng Mtani said the federation's ambition to “make volleyball stand alone” means creating a formal development pathway through which players can progress from grassroots competitions to professional leagues.
“The ultimate goal is to make volleyball stand on its own. This means making volleyball have its own formal maturity, from producing and developing players to playing in a professional league,” he said.
He said the federation also wanted to turn volleyball into a commercially viable sporting product that could attract fans, generate business opportunities and support the growth of clubs, while strengthening governance within the federation.
A key component of the plan will be the creation of what TVF calls a “volleyball ecosystem”, linking different levels of competition and player development.
The proposed structure will include grassroots programmes, youth leagues, amateur competitions, first-division leagues and the top-flight league.
“We are creating what is called a volleyball ecosystem. We will have a system for developing a player from the grassroots, youth leagues and the first division, where those who succeed will have an opportunity through playoffs to reach the Premier League,” Eng Mtani said.
Under the proposed structure, the women's Premier League will have eight teams, while the men's top division will comprise 10 teams. The system will also include promotion and relegation to create a pathway between the different levels.
Eng Mtani said the structure was expected to increase competition among clubs because teams would have clear targets to reach higher divisions.
He said stronger competition would, in turn, improve the quality of the league and provide players with a more consistent pathway towards higher levels of the sport.
“If you look at that, you will see that we will have a league with intensity, where all teams will be competing towards the same goal. That is how we are going to make volleyball stand on its own by creating that ecosystem so that we have all the levels,” he said.
The proposed reforms mark TVF's latest effort to establish a more structured domestic volleyball system, with the federation seeking to link player development, competition, commercialisation and governance under one long-term framework.