By Admin,

Rumours suggesting that former Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi was set to be appointed as Ethiopia Walia Ibex coach has  been quashed by a very senior Ethiopia football federation official (EFF) who alluded to the fact that the sentiments were mere “rumors” and that the federation was surprised about the news that it was not privy too in an exclusive interview with Soka25east.com

The federation has also given its vote of confiidence to Poetuguese coach Mariano Barreto saying he waxing with great motivation to help develop football from the grassroots and not only focus on short term plans.

The senior source further added “We are indeed surprised by the sentiments that we are about to hire Former Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi which has elicited so many calls and we wonder how can we be party to information that originated from Facebook and other social media”?He posed

“It unfortunate all this propaganda is coming at the very wrong time and we can state categorically that EFF policy is not based on sacking and replacing coaches.We have confidence in Coach Mariano because he has a long term plan of football development in the country and we need to give him the support and not react to every rumor being peddled around”he added

“We respect Stephen Keshi as a very good coach but we cannot be part of what it’s happening in Nigeria as we have our own plans as Ethiopia and this we have been implementing according to our manifesto .The sentiment should be treated with the contempt they deserve as we are very engrossed in preparing for the remaining qualifiers “he added

Mariano Barreto was appointed in February after the sacking of former coach Sewnet Bishaw .After taking over the coach immediately embarked in rebuilding the team bringing in youngsters to blend with the senior players as he sort to change the strategy.

Collins Okinyo

Ex- CAF Media Expert. An expert on African football with over 15 years experience ,always with an ear to the ground with indepth knowledge of the game. I have worked for top publications including 7 years at www.supersport.com until i founded www.soka25east.com to quench the thirst of football lovers across the continent. I have trained young upcoming journalists who are now a voice in African football.I have covered World Cup,AFCON,CHAN,Champions League,Confederations Cup,Cecafa,Cosafa,Wafu and many other football tournaments across the World. Founder Football Africa Arena(FAA),Founder www.afrisportdigital.com