Ngoma turned down Azam

By The Standard | Jun. 25, 2020 | 2 Min read

FORMER FC Platinum forward Donald Ngoma says he left Tanzanian club Azam FC because he felt disrespected after the club asked him to go through a trial period by playing in friendly matches before they could extend his contract.

BY FORTUNE MBELE

The club last week announced that they had parted ways with the attacker by mutual consent, ending a three-year marriage between the two parties.

However, it has emerged that Ngoma decided to call it quits because he was unhappy after the club, where he had spent three seasons, demanded a reassessment.

“While in Zimbabwe, I received a phone call from Azam chief executive officer Abdulkarim Amin, who requested me to come and play in friendly matches so they could assess me and possibly extend my contract, but I turned down the offer. The CEO insisted it could have been better if I was in Tanzania so I could play friendly matches prior to the resumption of the league and hence, they could decide to extend my contract,” the 31-year-old told Goal.

“To my side, I saw it as inappropriate and he told me that if I do not play friendly games, I should go on with other plans of my life. I accepted that and agreed that I should not return to the team. If you are a foreign player, you need to show your abilities to deserve what the club gives you but for my side, my level dropped and I was far away to catch up with my teammates [sic],” Ngoma added.

Azam is also home to two other Zimbabweans, Bruce Kangwa and Never Tigere who joined last year.

Kangwa and Tigere arrived in Tanzania last week and have been training with the team. However, they were not fit enough to participate in the club’s first match at the weekend as the league resumed after the coronavirus inflicted break prohibition.