Ethiopia Football Federation has appointed Abraham Mebratu as the new national coach.
In a statement, EFF admitted it had been in search of a new coach ahead of the AFCON 2019 Qualifier against Sierra Leone. Mebratu faces an uphill task of leading the Walias to the 2019 competition in Cameroon as they lie beneath Group F with no point. They were beaten by Ghana in the first match 5-0.
‘The Executive Committee of EFF has been in search a new head coach since June. The committee has reached on an agreement to appoint Mebratu as the next coach of the Waliyas Antelopes. He will put pen to paper a two years deal. We urge the general public to give Mebratu unwavering support.’ EFF said after Mebratu’s appointment.
Mebratu is a CAF coaching instructor and is taking the vacant mantle after Ashenafi Bekele resigned in December 2017. He has coached the local clubs before departing to Yemen ten years ago made history after guiding the war thorn Middle East nation to a major tournament final under a dire situation in March 2018.
They welcome Sierra Leone to Adis Ababa in August before playing Kenya’s Harambee Stars back to back in September.
Ethiopia are nicknamed “Walias,” after the Walia ibex, represents Ethiopia in association footballand is presided over by the Ethiopian Football Federation, the governing body for football in Ethiopia. The team has been representing Ethiopia in regional, continental, and international competitions since its founding in 1943. The Walias play their home games at Addis Ababa Stadium located in the capital city of Addis Ababa. They are currently ranked 124th in the world according to the FIFA World Rankings and 36th in CAF.
Ethiopia was one of only three teams (along with Egypt and Sudan) to participate in the inaugural Africa Cup of Nations in 1957. It won the competition in 1962, while it was also the host. However, success has been elusive since the end of the 1960s. Under a previous coach Sewnet Bishaw, the team qualified for the 2013 African Cup of Nations after a 31-year absence.
Ethiopia has a long football tradition and was among the pioneers of international competition in Africa, playing its first international match in 1947, defeating French Somaliland 5–0. The EFF joined FIFA in 1952, and was one of the founders of the Confederation of African Football in 1957.The team took part in the inaugural African Nations Cup in 1957, where it finished second. In 1959, Ethiopia entered the 1962 World Cup qualifiers for the first time and faced Israel in the second round after a bye. The team lost both games; and with an aggregate score of 2–4 was knocked out of the competition.
The team won the African tournament on home soil, in 1962. Nine countries entered the competition, including the reigning champions, the United Arab Republic, meaning for the first time a qualification tournament was required. As with previous tournaments, the finals only included four teams. The United Arab Republic, as holders, and Ethiopia as hosts, qualified automatically meaning each needed to play only one game to reach the final. Ethiopia won the tournament for the first time after extra timein the final against the United Arab Republic. Mengistu Worku and Badawi Abdel Fattahwere joint top-scorers, both with three goals each, but the award itself was given to Worku because his team had won the title.This was the greatest feat ever achieved by the Ethiopian National team, and the only African Cup of Nations title it has ever won. Luciano Vassalo was the team’s captain, and the coach was Ydnekatchew Tessema.
In the 1963 African Cup of Nations, they finished fourth, after losing the third place battle against the United Arab Republic. The 1965 edition was even more of a disappointment for Ethiopia, as the national team was eliminated in group phase by Tunisia and Senegal, finishing at the bottom of the group, with only one scored goal.
The next African Cup of Nations was the 1968 edition. Again, but this time on home soil, the team finished in fourth place after losing to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the semi-finals, and losing the third place match to Ivory Coast 0−1. But two years later, the team went through a real disaster, as they finished at the bottom of the group phase, with a goal difference of 3–12. The worse was yet to come for Ethiopia as they didn’t qualify for the 1972 African Cup of Nations at all, losing to Kenya in the qualifying tournament with a 0–3 aggregate. Almost the same thing happened for the 1974 African Cup of Nations. This time, they were eliminated by Tanzania.[citation needed]
Ethiopia hosted the Nations Cup tournament in 1976, but failed to progress to the final four, finishing third in the group, behind Guinea and Egypt. In 1977, they played Mauritius in the qualifiers for the 1978 African Cup of Nations. After a 4–2 win on aggregate, they had to play Uganda. After a 0–0 draw from the first match, Uganda won the second match, 2–1, and progressed to the final tournament. They also missed the 1980 African Cup of Nations. Ethiopia last qualified for the tournament in 1982, under coach Mengistu Worku, legendary former player. They failed to make it past the groups stage