Zurich, Switzerland – The 8^th Annual Ethiopian Sport & Culture Festival in Europe will be held in Amsterdam, Holland next week. 

Ethiopia’s greatest athlete Haile Gebrselassie and former Ethiopian national soccer team player Negussie Gebre are this year’s invited guests of honor. However, Haile’s presence at the festival has not yet been confirmed because of his tight and demanding schedule. As a result, sports fans have asked the federation to invite former Ethiopian athlete and Switzerland- resident Mohammed Kedir, should Haile not make it. Mohammed was a member of the great Ethiopian running generation of the 80s (Green Flood), which included the likes of Miruts Yifter, Yohannes Mohammed and Eshetu Tura to name a few. 

The 3-day festival (July 29-31) comprises 23 Ethiopian football teams representing various European cities, and will also include two guest team from the USA for the first time. Furthermore, football and running events for youth athletes will also be held.   

The 23 teams are grouped accordingly: 

Group A: Ethio-Switzerland, Ethio-Birmingham (UK), Ethio-Belgium, Ethio-Holland and Ethio-Toulouse (France). 

Group B : Ethio-Sweden, Ethio-Munich (Germany), Ethio-Stuttgart (Germany), Ethio-London (UK), Ethio-Norway and Ethio-Scandinavia. 

Group C : Ethio-Amsterdam (Holland), Ethio-Katanga (London, UK), Ethio-France, Ethio-Nurnberg (Germany) and Ethio-Cologne (Germany). 

Group D : Ethio-Frankfurt (Germany), Ethio-Rome (Italy), Ethio-Finland, Ethio-Zurich (Switzerland), Ethio-USA and Ethio-Italy.

 EthioSports.com would like to inform Ethiopian sports fans that our European correspondent Mistre Haile Selassie will post daily news and results from Amsterdam.

There are many other ways of disciplining our young and promising players. I am not saying no fault is committed on that fateful day. Yes, the players were at fault even though the referee and the federation have contributed to the disaster. Let us see the genesis of the problem. A goal was scored. A St George player said to the referee it was off-side. The player red carded. Another player said to the referee, can’t we complain? Why is red-carded? The second red card given so on and so forth. 

According to my sources, this same referee had red carded three St George players on another game earlier on. On another note, there are disciplinary issues pending with the federation i.e, not yet decided upon for a long time. This time it was St George on target and it took them just three or four days to arrive at their harsh and irrational conclusion. If asked why the rush, they have no answer. The prescribed penalty under the law is from 6 months up to 2 years. Why the maximum? They have no answer again. Moreover they didn’t bother themselves to talk to the players. I heard Saladin has a serious accusation against the referee. They denied him his right to be heard before being penalized. Maybe their rule says they can decide only on the report of the referee and the commissioner. 

The commissioner can’t hear what the discussion was about between the referee and the players. The referee can easily make up a story and fabricate false accusation. His report needs to be balanced. In view of this, talking to the players could have straightened the record. The Bible reads, “any story sounds true until you hear the other side of the story which straightens the record”. Anyways, the club and the players have appealed against the harsh decision which actually was not meant to educate or reform the players but to take vengeance both against the club and the players. I really don’t know why they hate the club to this extent. I heard from different sources the club had long ago submitted its complaint against referee bamlak. If that is true, the federation shouldn’t have assigned that referee on that day. 

The federation had to investigate St George’s complaint before assigning the referee. The club, St George, is a good one, it contributes a lot to soccer development and improvement, it helps clubs with financial problem. It helps individuals with severe injury. It sends players of other clubs for treatment abroad. This club does a lot of good things to help the nation, other clubs and individual players. The club spends several hundreds thousands dollars for treatment of players. Ali of Buna could be treated by the help of this club. Sheik Dr Mohamod Al Amuudin helped all those players on behalf of St George. It is because St George is there this gentleman could help many players. Something is wrong somewhere. We need to call a conference with the federation and other clubs to discuss why they are so much against this club. 

LONG LIVE ST GEORGE!
Guangul Teshager

ይህ በእንዲህ እንዳለ አትሌት ኃይሌ የማይገኝ ከሆነ በምትኩ የቀድሞው ጀግናው አትሌት ሻምበል መሐመድ ከድር (የስዊዘርላንድ ነዋሪ) እንዲጋበዝ የሚጠይቁ አስተያየቶች ለፌደሬሽኑ እየቀረቡ መሆናቸውን ለማወቅ ችለናል::ሻምበል መሐመድ ከድር “አረንጓዴው ጎርፍ” በሚል ስም የታወቀው የኢትዮጵያውያን ድንቅ አትሌቶች አባል የነበረና በተለይም እ.አ.አ. በ 1980 የሞስኮው ኦሎምፒክ ውድድር ላይ ሌላው ብርቅዬ የኢትዮጵያ ልጅ ምሩጽ ይፍጠር በ 5000 እና 10,000 ሜትር ሁለት የወርቅ ሜዳልያዎች ለሀገሩ እንዲያስገኝ ከፍተኛውን የቡድን ሚና የተጫወተ መሆኑ አይዘነጋም::

ethiosports.com የውድድሩን ሂደት እየተከታተለ ለአንባቢዎቹ እንደሚያቀርብ ከወዲሁ በትህትና ይገልጻል::
ምሥጢረ ኃ.ሥላሴ

Dedebit FC was leading 1-0 when the referee stopped the match. 

The problem started when striker Michael Tadesse was sent off following a harsh word of exchange with the referee. Some players from St. George confronted the official and soon after Adane Girma received his marching order. The decision enraged Saints’ fans and their efforts to invade the pitch were only prevented by the large police force present at the game.  It took 25 minutes before the match resumed again. 

After the break, with what seems an apparent intention to be sent off, Saints’ goalie was seen collecting the ball with his hand outside the penalty on more than one occasion .The ref had no choice but to send him off. Sadly, his replacement did the same thing and he too was sent off. 

Soon after, the referee ended the match and declared Dedebit FC the winner.

Watch the video here

The 42-year-old ex-professional footballer was born in Glasgow, Scotland on July 28, 1967, and he is of Nigerian descent. 

Coach Onuora is expected to receive a monthly salary of $13,000, and will also be provided free housing, an automobile, two free air tickets and phone service. The coach’s salary and other expenses will be covered by MIDROC Ethiopia, a company owned by Ethiopian-born billionaire Sheikh Mohammed Al Amoudi.

Stats Info: Wikipedia

Team Awards

1. Saint George FC – Champions – Gold Medals plus 100,000 Birr

2. Dedebit FC – Runners-up – Silver Medals plus 50,000 Birr

3. Ethiopian Coffee – 3^rd Place Finish – Bronze Medals plus 25,000 Birr

Individual Awards:

Tafesse Tesfaye (Ethiopian Coffee) – Top Goal Scorer of the Year – 10,000 Birr

Mitcho Sredojevic (Saint George FC) –Coach of the Year – 10,000 Birr

Be’Amlak Tessema – Top Referee of the Year – 7,000 Birr

Ethiopian Insurance FC was not so lucky though, as it lost 2-1 in Hawassa City and is now condemned to the National League together with South Police, Metehara Sugar and Meta Abo Brewery.

The final table standing for the two teams was:

Meanwhile, Dedebit FC finished second in the league with a 1-0 away win over Sebeta City, and Ethiopian Coffee lost 1-0 to Sidama Coffee in Yergalem.

South Police defeated Adama City 1-0; Metehara Sugar squeezed by Meta Abo Brewery (2-1) and Mugher Cement scored a 2-1 victory over Trans Ethiopia.

The 2009/10 Ethiopian Premier League will come to a conclusion here today with Ethiopian Banks SC taking on Harar Beer and Saint George facing Dire Dawa City.

This year’s football world cup has been trumpeted by FIFA as a world cup for the African continent.

There is no doubt that soccer is huge in Africa, but the love of the beautiful game is by no means only an urban phenomenon.

The BBC’s Will Ross has been assessing the build up of excitement for the World Cup in the Ethiopian highlands.

About 700km north of the capital Addis Ababa in Lalibella, he met a group of nine year-old boys on their way to school.

Despite not being able to speak much English, they are fluent in the language of football.

Listen on BBC Radio Online

The victory gives the Saints their third consecutive and 9^th EPL title with a total of 81 points from 33 matches. The team won 25, drew 6 and lost just a couple of games during this year’s competition.  

It is not shocking that Saint George won the league as they are the most experienced and well financed team in the country. What is surprising is the gap between them and second-placed Dedebit FC is a staggering 24-pts.

Newly promoted Dedebit FC created the surprise the season when they led in the first round, but lack of experience failed them in the second.

Second-Place

The 2009/10 Ethiopian Premier League (EPL) will conclude this weekend with Ethiopian Coffee travelling to Yergalem to face Sidama Coffee and Dedebit FC taking on Sebeta in Sebeta.  

Ethiopian Coffee could finish second if it wins its match and Dedebit either loses or draws as the former has a better goal difference (+21 goals) than its competitor  (+18 goals) . Obviously, a win will secure a second-place finish for Dedebit no matter what Eth. Coffee does. 

Relegation

Unless the Ethiopian Football Federation changes its rule, Metehara Sugar, South Police and Meta Abo Brewery will be relegated, with EEPCO being the most likely fourth team joining them to the National League. 

Insurance (33, -6, 40pts) will travel to Hawassa to square off with Hawassa City, while EEPCO (33, -9 goals, 37pts) will meet fellow Addis Ababa team, Defence Force. In the first round competition, EEPCO won 2-0 while Insurance lost by the same margin in Addis Ababa.  And that’s exactly what EEPCO hope to see this Saturday. 

Finally, St. George FC and Ethiopian Banks SC will play their one game in hand match here tomorrow.

Ethiopian Premier League – After Week 33