Five teams including 5th place Adama are in a title collision course while eight sides are in a desperate struggle to run away from the drop zone. New comers Jimma AbaJifar are leading the furious title contention while the other eleven teams follow; including high spenders Woldya who sit rock bottom of the league table.
Saint George has 14 league titles but never an East African Club championship, now they have a legitimate shot for another Premier League title.
Some media outlets suggest that the close title race is a reflection of a strong league season. But the truth is that the parity is due to mediocrity as none of the 16 teams managed to emerge dominant because they are all inconsistent. It appears that no one wants to win the title this year.
Unbeaten Gor Mahia of neighboring Kenya is leading the 18 side league with 37 points from 11 wins four draws plus 21 goals while bottom of the table Wazito has just 20 points from 19 matches. Nzoia Sugar’s Elvis Rupla is leading the top scorer sheet with 11 goals from 15 matches. Sudanese top league group “A” leader Al-Hilal Omdurman finished top of group “A” with 42 points from 16 matches while runner-up Hilal Obayed is eleven points behind. Al-Merreikh tops group “B” with 34 points where as Al-Ahli Atbara is camping bottom of the table with 11 points. APR of Rwanda leads the league with 51 points and 27 goals from 25 matches and down in the table Miroplast has collected only 17 points.
The above record shows that even with the help of a number of foreign players the Ethiopian Premier League season is full of less competent teams and no team has emerged as a dominate force. One can conclude that Ethiopian Premier League plays at a lower level compared with neighboring East African Leagues.
First place still up for grabs as EPL winds down
Russia 2018 FIFA Assigns Bamlak as a Fourth Official
Ethiopian international arbiter Bamlak Tessema has been appointed as a fourth official on the ongoing FIFA World Cup group stage games. It will be Bamlak’s first ever assignment in the prestigious world football tournament.
Bamlak is the fourth official when Costa Rica tackles Serbia in Group E game which will be held at Samara Arena. Senegalese trio Malanga Diedhiou, Djibril Camera and El Hadji Samba are appointed to officiate the tie while Russian Tikhon Kalugin is the reserve match official.
Source: soccerethiopia.net
Bezuayehu leads Super League top scorers’ chart
Jimma AbaBuna’s striker Bezuayehu Endashaw has emerged as the leading scorer in the Ethiopian Super League after a braid in a 3-3 home draw with National Cement FC. Four goal hunters in the squad Group “B” top spot Debub Police appears to have the best armament to go all through promotion.
Though a slow start at the first round fixtures, the promotion aspiring teams’ strikers have started producing a number of goals to help their respective sides’ dreams come true. Unlike other teams group “B” leaders Debub Police with a goal tally of 39 have four strikers each contributing an equal number of goals while AbaBuna and others solely are dependent on a single target man.
AbuBuna’s goal machine Bezuayehu Endashaw is a one man strike force contributing nearly half of the goals the team has scored. He has 13 goals out of the total 31. Bezuayehu is currently the most prized player shouldering the responsibility of taking AbaBuna back to the upper tier.
The second place team in Group A, Addis Ababa’s target man Fekadu Alemu is joint second with Selte Werabe’s striker G/Meskel Dubale each with eight goals in their pocket.
Debub Police appear to be well equipped in the front as there are four players capable of changing results. Their number one striker Biruk Elias is jointly third with Hadiya’s Ebsa Befekadu each with eight goals. In the meantime Debub Police’s trio of Kenyan Eric Muranda, Behailu Wegene and Abebaw Yohannes are sharing fourth place with four other players each bagging seven goals.
Former EPL Champion Negussie Desta passed away
Former Ethiopian Premier League champion Negussie Desta had died on Monday following an emergency situation is widely regarded as Dedebit’s greatest ever Head Coach steering the side to 2013 Premier League championship title.
Despite turbulent seasons while in the hot seat of Defense Force (Mekelakya) and Ethiopia NegedBank, he happened to be the architect of the hard to beat Dedebit breaking the long standing rivalry of two horses Kidus Giorgis and Ethiopia Bunna.
Passionate and sometimes spitting fire while under pressure the heavy set yet a man of detail Negussie had been in his second spell with The Blues that started the 2018 season in style leading the league table until the final two matches of the first round when he got suspended for manhandling the referee. Had it not been for that suspension, Negusse’s hard work of forging strong comradery along with big name players the likes of Getaneh Kebede, Seyoum Tesfaye, Aynalem Hailu and Asrat Megersa, Dedebit could have made Dedebit once again Ethiopian Champion. “It was not the football but his capacity as a strong motivator makes him different than any other coaches that graced the team” a player in the current squad remarked.
He returned to action a month before the incident and was focused on inspiring Dedebit to revive in to the second round. Negusse’s passed away just exactly a year from former Ethiopia Bunna and National team striker Asseged Tesfaye’s sudden death due to heart failure.
