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.

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.

Adama-

In other matches, Sidama Coffee and Trans Ethiopia drew 1-1 in Yergalem, Dedebit FC lost 1-0 away to Dire Dawa City and champions Saint George FC scored a 2-0 victory over Mugher Cement in Ambo. 

The season will conclude this weekend with the following matches: 

Saturday June 12th, 2010  WEEK 34 

Awassa 2:00PM South police Vs Adama       

A.A  4:00PM EEPCO Vs Defence      

Metehara 3:00PM Metehara Vs Meta           

Awassa 4:00PM  Awassa Vs Insurance          

Yergalem 3:00PM  Sidama Coffee Vs Et Coffee           

Sebeta 3:00PM  Sebeta Vs Dedebit           

Ambo 3:00PM   Muger Vs Trans 

Sunday June 13th, 2010

A.A 2:00PM  Banks Vs Harar

A.A 4:00PM  Saint George Vs Dere Dawa

Addis Ababa – There are now two weeks left before the 2009/10 Ethiopian Premier League (EPL) Soccer Championship comes to a close.  With that comes an intensified relegation battle as teams scramble to make last minutes’ efforts to stay in the league. 

According to Ethiopian Football Federation’s fixtures, seven matches will take place tomorrow, with two more on Wednesday. 

Tuesday June 8th, 2010 (First named team play at home)

Adama- Adama City Vs EEPCO   

Harar- Harar City Vs South Police

Addis Ababa- Defence Force Vs Metehara Sugar           

Addis Ababa – Insurance Vs Sebeta City          

Yergalem- Sidama Coffee Vs Trans Ethiopia           

Dire Dawa- Dire Dawa City Vs Dedebit FC          

Ambo- Mugher Cement Vs Saint George  

Wednesday June 9th, 2010

 Addis Ababa – Ethiopian Coffee Vs Meta Abo Brewery   

 Addis Ababa – Banks SC Vs Awassa City  

Analysis of the 2009/10 EPL season:

Known Facts:

Saint George FC has already won this season’s title and Meta Abo Brewery will definitely be relegated.  

Unknown:

a. Relegated teams: 4 teams are expected to be relegated this year. This means that Meta Abo Brewery and three other teams will play in the lower league next season. So, who are the three unlucky ones among these 5 teams?

b. Who will finish as the EPL’s Top Goal Scorer?

It looks like that the battle for the league’s top scorer title will be between Tafesse Tesfaye (Ethiopian Coffee) and Temesgen Tekle (Dedebit FC), but Seifedin Hulder (Defence Force) & Bedaso Hora (Mugher Cement) have slim chances.

c.Second-placed team

Who will finish second? The fight for second place will be between Dedebit FC and Ethiopian Coffee. However, all Dedebit has to do is win one of their remaining two matches and they will finish second no matter what Ethiopian Coffee does.

Addis Ababa – Ethiopian Coffee’s attempt to catch up with Dedebit FC for second place position will have to wait at least for now, as they were hammered a 3-0 blow by Defence Force in the 32nd Week of the Ethiopian Premier League (EPL) competition resumed here today. 

Meanwhile, EEPCO scored a badly needed victory (2-1) over Metehara Sugar, but still languishes in the drop zone.

Awassa City moved up a notch to 4^th place with a 2-0 win over neighbors South Police, and Sebeta City scored an amazing 4-1 victory over Banks SC. 

The league will continue tomorrow with the following matches:

Dire Dawa City vs Insurance

Sidama Coffee vs Saint George

Dedebit FC vs Mugher Cement 

Note: We want to thank Zecharias Getachew of Saint George FC for the league results

Tafesse won the EPL top Scorers’ title last year.

Other notable scorers this week include Mohammed Nasser and Salahadin Said, both of Saint George FC, who’ve scored a couple of goals each in their team’s 6-3 walloping of Meta Abo Brewery.

While the Saints vs Meta Abo match was more of a formality, Insurance’s 4-2 victory over Mugher Cement moved the team to 12^th place and relatively safe zone. 

With only three matches left, the only thing certain about the current EPL championship is that Saint George FC have already won the title and Meta Abo Brewery will definitely be relegated. Dedebit FC (56 pts) and Ethiopian Coffee (53 pts) will battle for second place finish, while EEPCO (31 pts), Metehara Sugar (31 pts) and South Police (30 pts) will pray for miracles to avoid relegation.

The 31^st week of the EPL saw Metehara Sugar and Awassa City winning their home matches against Adama City and Harar Beer by identical score (1-0); Sebeta City beating South Police 2-0; Dire Dawa City shocking Banks CS 2-0 here in Addis and Defence Force sharing a point (2-2) with Trans Ethiopia in Mekelle.

With just 3 matches left, EEPCO are seating  in 15th position and in grave danger of being relegated. According to the Ethiopian Football Federation’s rule, 4 teams are expected to be relegated at the end of the season.

Defending champions Saint George FC, who are back from their wonderful CECAFA Club tournament in Rwanda, will face Meta Abo Brewery while Insurance accommodates Mugher Cement here in the capital. With one match in hand and already declared champions, it is likely that Micho will try out some of his youngsters to face relegated.

Meanwhile, Insurance, who are seating just 3 points clear of EEPCO, will fight to win their match against Mugher Cement as they don’t want to face relegation.

Ethiopian Premier League Table 

The event was held as part of the club’s ongoing efforts to strength the team’s position in next year’s championship. 

Ethiopian Coffee’s remaining 4 matches include 3 home and 1 away matches, in which they beat EEPCO and Defence Force 1-0 in Addis, tied 1-1 with Sidama Coffee and won 3-2 against Meta Abo Brewery away.

Week 31: vs EEPCO

Week 32: vs Defence Force

Week 33: vs Meta Abo Brewery

Week 34: vs Sidama Coffee

The team‘s league standing after Week 30: