Ethiopia’s Football Federation Fires Coach Over Poor Results
The Ethiopian Football Federation (EFF) has announced its dismissal of coach Sewnet Bishaw after the Walya Antelopes failed to impress at the just ended African Nations Championship in South Africa.
Ethiopia not only lost all its matches, but the team also failed to score a single goal during the tournament for local players.
Many fans had expressed high expectations for the Walyas under coach Bishaw, who re-took the post in 2011.
In the short period of his tenure, he managed to bring the Walyas to the fore of continental and international football after a over three decade in the shadows.
Juniedin Basha, the head of the Ethiopian Football Federation has said “Sewnet is a hero for our football, he brought us back to the international scene, we recognize his success in the last two years but things must continue to grow”.
Sewnet Bishaw,62, has had different spells as coach of the Walya Antelopes; in 2005, during his first tenure as head coach, he famously led the team to win the CECAFA Cup.
On October 2011, Sewnet was reappointed after Belgian coach Tom Sainifet resigned over a disagreement with the federation over terms of his contract extension.
The federation is yet to announce who the new coach would be or even provide a list of possible candidates. However, officials say the new head coach will be unveiled within two months.
According to Basha, “We lost both the World-Cup play off matches, we didn’t do well at the regional CECAFA Cup and the CHAN results were less of our expectations, they don’t fit a nation of 90 million people”.
Many expect an African coach to take over from Sewnet after the much lauded success of African coaches in the past few years.
Basha said “We didn’t sack him for the sake of just hiring another coach so we will take time and consider who will be the next coach.
“We’ll be looking for a good coach that can push us to the next level and that could mean a foreign coach taking the spot but local coaches are also being considered…
“We need young blood to build on the foundations already laid and prepare ourselves for better results in Morocco.”
Photo by Reuters: The former coach of the Walya Antelopes Sewnet Bishaw.