Ethiopia Bunna’s most famous head coach Seyoum Abate has been admitted to Black Lion Hospital following a critical case last Monday. “After three days in the Emergency Room, he has been transferred to the 8th floor ward and is doing better,” his younger brother Solomon Abate said.
One of the most talented players among his contemporaries Seyoum played attacking midfielder both for his club Saint George and the Ethiopian national team in the late fifties and early sixties. Seyoum made a name as a coach for Ethiopia Bunna since their promotion to the upper tier in 1984, helping the side to emerge as one of the major soccer forces in the country. Seyoum enjoyed his coaching profession as he raised many young talented players like Mengestu Bogale, Mulugeta Woldeyes, Million Begashaw, Asrat Adugna and the late all time Ethiopia Bunna most popular player Asseged Tesfaye.
Though he couldn’t fill the silverware cabinet with trophies, he was renowned for his modern coaching philosophies from which he built amazing “Ball Playing Teams” making Ethiopia Bunna the second most popular side in Ethiopia next to Saint George. Coming and going in to Ethiopia Bunna not less than five times he also served as a head coach to the Ethiopian national team at all levels.
More than half a century in football and nick named among his admirers “The Big Bear” Seyoum has been struggling with a serious health problem for the last few years.

Ethiopia’s Meseret Defar is the leading name in Tokyo Marathon women’s field. A winner of two Olympic 5000m titles, two world 5000m titles and four world indoor 3000m titles, the 34-year-old has spent the past few years – when not injured or pregnant – making a gradual transition to the roads.
She has won three half marathons on US soil and finished second at the 2013 Great North Run in 1:06:09. With track PBs of 8:23.72 for 3000m, 14:12.88 for 5000m and 29:59:20 for 10,000m, athletics fans will be keen to see what Defar manages in her marathon debut.
She will line up against compatriot Ruti Aga, who finished second at the 2017 Berlin Marathon in a PB of 2:20:41 and won the recent Houston Half Marathon in a PB of 1:06:39, and fellow Ethiopian Shure Demise, whose 2:20:59 performance at the 2015 Dubai Marathon is the fastest performance ever by an U20 athlete.
Kenya’s 2015 world silver medalist and 2016 Tokyo champion Helah Kiprop and 2017 Paris Marathon champion Purity Rionoripo are also set to compete.
Ethiopia’s Tesfaye Abera, who ran a PB of 2:04:24 to win the 2016 Dubai Marathon, is the fastest of Kipsang’s opponents in Tokyo. Compatriot and fellow former Dubai winner Tesgaye Mekonnen is also in the field.
“Expect a very exciting race this year,” said race director Ted Hayano. “The assembled field may be good enough to target the world record of 2:02:57 as well as the Japanese record of 2:06:16.”

F.asil’s boss Mentsenot Getu has barely survived being fired and speculation is running wild that Woldya boss Zemariam W/Giorgis will be the next to get the axe.
The Gondor based side sits in the middle of the standings and they have not played well recently, tying Mekele 0-0, and losing to Saint Gorge 2-0 and Sidama Coffee 3-0 this week. Fasil sits 7th in the table with 16 points from 12 matches so little known Mentsenot who took over the hot seat last season replacing sacked Head Coach Zemariam appears to be in jeopardy.
Sources close to the club hinted that the committee’s serene decision stays only until the end of the first round so Mentsenot needs to deliver better results in the remaining three matches.
According to speculation Woldya’s head coach Zemariam is currently available. Fasil spent a lot of money this season, signing seasoned Ethiopian players: Tesfaye Alebachew, Biruk Kalbore ,Dawit Estifanos and Menyahel Teshome plus four foreign players, Zemariam appears oblivious in trying to make a team out of the big names because Woldya is currently down to 12th place with 11 points from eleven matches.
Woldya has two wins, five draws and four loses, adding up to 11 points. They have conceded 10 goals. Which means their defense is bad and their offense has only scored seven times. Some critics suggest the problem may be with the boss since he never played at the higher stage leading big name footballers could be a real problem.

Jimma Aba Jifar’a wandering Ghanaian goalkeeper has returned to camp after a two month absence and Ethiopia Bunna has signed a one year contract with the giant Senegalese striker Baptiste Faye.
Daniel Nana Agyei, who was the gold medalist at the FIFA U-20 World Cup gold and winner of the African Youth Championship, has returned to Jimma after a two month unapproved absence for an alleged court appearance in his home country Ghana. Daniel’s sudden departure was a huge blow for Abajifar as it lost four consecutive matches before rebounding and winning their next two games.
Daniel admitted that he travelled to Holland to claim custody of his baby girl and he expects to make more visits in the coming months. The 1.85m tall FIFA 2009 U-20 World Youth Cup and African Youth Double Gold Medalist will resume his duty between the wood works. The team sits third in the table after an amazing four wins in five matches, so the addition of Daniel could give a huge boost to head coach Gebremedin Haile.
In other news Ethiopia Bunna landed the 1.95m tall Baptiste Faye from Senegal to pair with their newly signed Ugandan striker Boban Bogere. The addition of the 30 year-old Faye who played for ten clubs in ten seasons scoring 136 goals in 183 appearances means Ethiopia Bunna will boast one of the most fearful strike forces in the league. Both strikers are to be available to the club at the start of the second round.