The most chaotic Ethiopian Premier League season comes to an end today in an even more controversial scenario.
League leaders Fasil Town travels to Mekele to visit relegation survivor Sehul Shere while title contender Mekele entertains visitors Diredawa Town in Mekele International Stadium. Leading the table in a dozen goal differences Fasil Town is in a must win faceoff against 13th in the table with seven wins, twelve draws and ten defeats Sehul in order to crown its first ever Premier League title.
If Fasil loses or settles for a draw and Mekele manages to win against visitors Diredawa, the coveted trophy goes to Mekele for the first time in the club’s history while boss Gebremedin Haile to make history as the recent time first ever Coach to claim back to back championship titles. Fasil Town tops the table with 56 points and 32 goals while Mekele sits second with equal points but 20 goals.
Third place and with 55 points Sidama Coffee also has a chance to win the title but with big ifs. If both Fasil and Mekele lose their respective matches and the home side with win against visitors’ Welwalo Adigrat, Sidama would be champion collecting 58 points.
Taking in number of darts directed towards the dart board like Ethiopian Football Federation appeared to have no concern about the impacts. Though Saint George announced a divorce from the league due to unfair treatment from the governing body and two of the relegated sides Debub Police and Mekelakya shed tears for being relegated unfairly, EFF appears to be oblivious of any other issue than wrapping up the worst ever league season today.
Worst ever Ethiopian Premier League season wraps up today
Hawassa, Addis Ababa emerge U-20 champions
Hawassa Town won the ten team Ethiopian Under-20 group “A” top table after unexpected away victory over runner-up Saint George while Addis Ababa Town emerged winner of group “B”. An eight side play-off is expected to take place in Hawassa next month.
Home side Saint George was the favorite for having two chances and playing on its own turf. But failure to get through the strong Hawassa defensive line and then conceding a goal in the final minutes of the first half, followed by a pouring heavy rain, the visitors managed a 1-0 victory to win the group. Eleven wins, six draws and only one defeat, Hawassa tops the group two points clear collecting 39 points from sixteen matches. Saint George finished runner-up with 37 points from 11 wins, four draws and three defeats. Wolayta Dicha stood third collecting 34 followed by Mekelakya four points behind. The team which Ethiopian Football Federation boasts for being home of elite youth talents, Ethiopian Youth Sport Academy finished bottom of the table with a humiliating record. EYSA managed only a single win, two draws and 15 defeats scoring only 7 while conceding 47 goals.
Addis Ababa Town won group “B” four points clear of runner up Adama Town. Ten wins, three draws and three defeats Addis Ababa stood on top having 33 points while Adama settled for second place with 29 points. Gondor based Fasil Town finished third collecting 27 points from 18 matches while Medin (Insurance) finished fourth with 23 points.
A one round playoff tournament is to take place in Hawassa bringing together four sides from each of the groups.
Wolkite boss Dereje Belayneh expresses gratitude
After promoting Wolkite Town to the upper tier by topping the eleven side group table, Dereje Belay’s stay with the team is said to be unlikely because the coach is on a mission to face a new challenge somewhere else. “I came here to do a job and having accomplished it in success, I am expecting big rewards,” the former Mekelakya and Ethiopian national team defender Dereje told reporters.
This is the third time Dereje helped a promote in to the upper tier. What is amazing about the big accomplishment is that all three made it to the Premier League for the first time in their history under Dereje who always advocating for coaching freedom. After promoting two clubs Sebeta Town and Jimma AbaBuna from Oromia he made it with Wolkite Town a Southern region side just 150 kilometers from Addis Ababa. “My biggest gratitude is to my spouse for she took all responsibilities at home in my absence which is most of the time. Also my appreciations to Wolkite Club officials for letting me have the freedom in my job,” Dereje remarked following the joyful celebration of the team’s promotion.
After twice leaving the clubs he steered to the Premier League in his very first season at the top tier, Dereje appears to be convinced that the cut throat atmosphere at the Premier League doesn’t give him comfort. According to a staff member, Dereje who doesn’t care about the big salary at the Premier League wants to join a new club with the potential for promotion.
Rumors have Addis Ababa Football Federation going solo
With Mekelakya relegated and only two sides from the Addis Ababa remaining at the upper tier, many clubs from the Capital are said to forge an alliance to form their own league. At the start of the newly formatted Premier League two decades back more than half of the 14 teams were from the Capital.
The bizarre situation surrounding the Ethiopian Football Federation getting worse and worse like this and the Army side relegated, the 75 plus year old Saint George and popular side Ethiopia Coffee are the only two teams to represent Addis Ababa considered by many as capital of the continent for having the second most number of international offices. Agricultural Marketing, Berhanena-Selam, Nyala, and Ethiopia NegedBank are some lost from the face of earth while Medin (Ethiopia Insurance) and Ethio-Electric are battling to stay breathing.
According to critics this is mostly to the negligence of the federation that gave little or no attention to government sponsored clubs as they only belong to an institution. In addition to being run by politically affiliated officials, regional clubs have a vast amount of financial resources comparing with government sponsored teams and have lesser control over their expenditures. “This means government run clubs are easy prey for relegation. It is easy to count those clubs relegated due to unfair treatment of the governing body,” remarked critics. “But it is the gravest mistake made by the federation for those government financed clubs were pillars of Ethiopian football,” the critics added.
Having these facts for the record and EFF getting weaker and weaker by the day, this may be the ideal time for Addis Ababa to run away and form its own league competition.
