Haileegziabher Adhanom – AIPS Member
Ethiopian Football Federation’s (EFF) decision to decline the renewal of all its national team coaches leaves the country without a single coach in the senior and U-20 men and women teams.
The decision comes after the indefinite halt of football activities in Ethiopia and beyond since early March, due to COVID-19.
The contracts of Birhanu Gizaw and Frew Hailegebreal, head coaches of the senior and U-20 women national teams respectively, together with their coaching staff, had already expired weeks ago.
Abraham Mebratu and his coaching staff in charge of the men’s national team are the last to leave office as their contract expired on August 6, 2020.
For many football fans, this decision, especially the reluctance to renew Abraham’s contract even when there were signs of stability and improvement in the national team after a very long time, is a bit confusing. Mebratu even gained promising results including his latest victory over a star-studded Ivory Coast national team in his latest match at AFCON 2021 qualifiers.
However, EFF President Esayas Jira said, “We have reached this decision after sensibly analyzing the trajectory of situations. We never terminate anybody’s contract before it ends naturally, but, when their contract expires we believed that it’s better to see things more carefully and evaluate all the performances before we make any decisions, whether to renew their contracts or to hire new coaches.”
Abraham Mebratu, the former Yemen national team coach and CAF elite coaching instructor, said: “I had a tremendous two years at the helm of the national team. With very hard work, we made a significant overall improvement in building a competitive national team during my time. I would love to say thank you to those, who supported and criticized me. I will continue performing my professional duty until the last minute, and I want to make it clear that I am always there to serve my country whenever I am needed.”
The real intention for this decision by the EFF still creates division among the football family. Some say the EFF reached this point because they want to save the money they are currently paying the coaches because of the financial problems they are facing right now, while others say it is simply because they want to change the leadership. But both claims have been categorically dismissed by the federation.
