Dar es Salaam, Tanzania – September 4, 2025
A pre-season football friendly between Nigeria’s City FC Abuja and Zanzibar’s JKU FC was briefly suspended on Thursday afternoon in Dar es Salaam after a swarm of bees swept across the pitch in the 77th minute of play.
With the score tied 1–1, players, referees, and ball boys dropped flat to the ground to avoid provoking the insects, a tactic widely advised during swarming incidents. After several minutes, the bees dispersed, and play resumed. City FC Abuja went on to secure a 2–1 victory.
No injuries were reported during the incident. Videos circulating on social media show both teams and officials lying still on the turf as the bees passed overhead.
This is not the first time Tanzanian football has seen such a disruption; in 2019, a domestic league fixture between Young Africans and Iringa United was similarly halted by a bee invasion.
Match organizers and club officials have not yet issued formal statements regarding Thursday’s incident.