By Admin,

Ethiopia Football Federation(EFF) have terminated coach Mariano Barreto’s contract as at April 30 through mutual consent with the Portuguese tactician after a rather bumpy ride since taking over the reigns from renowned coach Sewnet Bishaw in 2014.

Soka25east.com who  spoke to a very reliable top source at the federations who sort anonymity learnt that the decision was met after the National Executive Committee(NEC) decided that the coach had not met his  stipulated mandate to drive the Walia Ibex to glory.

“Yes we have agreed to terminate Mariano Barreto’s contract on mutual consent agreed also by him and though it was a tough decision we had no other option since he was not able to deliver as earlier agreed and it has been a bad time for Ethiopian football as we were knocked out from basically all competitions”the source told Soka25east.com

“We will settle for a local coach who will be named in a week’s time so that he might take over from Mariano and prepare the team ahead of Afcon 2017 qualifers .We want a person who will be able to understand the team and give the much needed results”the source added.

Grapevine has been rife that former coach Sewnet Bishaw might be announced as the new head coach having led the team to greater heights when he was incharge.Sewnet took the team to 2013 Africa Cup of Nations after a 31 year absence and reached the 2014 World Cup play offs being knocked out by Nigeria but was sacked after the 2014 Chan hosted by South Africa where Ethiopia performed dismally.

There has been hue and cry from thousands of passionate fans who have demanded from change.Soka25east efforts to get comments from Mariano Barreto were fruitless as his phone went unanswered.

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