By Firew Asrat
The first leg of the Ethiopia Premier League (EPL) started on a high note with teams bolstering their squads with new faces. On paper, the fans expected explosive games and action-thriller matches across the country.
The pre-season favorites comprised of thirteen times champions St.George ,Fasil Kenema, Jimma Aba Bunna.However, it proved otherwise when the league started with a number of surprise results being registered by the favorites.
Here is a compilation of how the league was after repeated postponements where the expanded the league started in November with 16 teams from the tradition 14 teams.
Newcomers efforts
The newcomers to the league proved to be a tough nut to crack for the experienced clubs.One of the new comers Fasil Kenema’s caused stir, demolished Ethiopian giants like St.George and Ethiopian Coffee. In the mid-season,they are 3 point lesser from the league leaders,St.George.
Similarly,the other new comers Woldia kenema,Jimma Aba Bunna performed fairly and occupying places at the mid-table. Addis-Ababa Kenema registered a poor result among the new comers as it’s found at the bottom of the league though their performance shows there strength to be good in the second round of the season.
Below par performance
St.George performed poorly in this season comparing to the previous seasons with each game proving to be challenging to the 13 times Ethiopian league champions.Their performances has increased critism with repeated oppositions being heard in the club where a section of followers are calling for sacking of Dutch head coach Mart Nooji.
For Dedebit and Adama Kenema were roaring for the cup as they finished the first round being among the top.
Fans
Regarding to stadium attendance,this years league is so special as the colorful Fasil kenema fans make the league special.
St George fans has come with new styles of supporting there team. The same goes to the beautiful Ethiopian Coffee fans. Most games in the league was held with amazing support from there respective fans. The major factor beside the huge fan base clubs joining the league was the scheduling of match days where the fixtures were mostly held in the weekend which helps the fans to follow their teams.
Coaches
The other major event in the first round was the sacking of coaches. Four teams sacked there head coaches in the first round.
Dedebit FC sacked the Ethio-American head coach and the former Ethiopian national team head coach ‘Yohannes Sahle’ immediately after three league matches. Then Ethiopian Coffee sacked the Serbian head coach ‘Nebojsa Vucicevic’ and later Jimma Aba bunna sacked ‘Derje Belay’.
Players perfomance
The other incident in the league was the good performances from players in diffrent clubs. The Dedebit FC striker ‘Getaneh kebede’ performance is amazing as he scored 11 goals in 15 league games.
Many are speculating him that he may broke the Ethiopian premier league highest goal record,24 goals,which is set by ‘Yordanos Abay’ 16 years ago. Others like St.George’s ‘Mintesnot Adane’,Fasil kenema’s ‘Abdurhaman Mubarke’ and many other players performed well in the league.
The first round also shows many African players from diffrent parts of the continent. The numbers of this players make the round special than other players. Eight of the league clubs have goal keepers from abroad and about 16 diffrent nation players are playing in the league.
Standings:
Team Net Goals pts
1. St.George 16 29
2. Dedebit 9 27
3. Fasil Kenema 7 26
4. Adama kenema 4 26
5. Sidama Coffee 2 25
6. Ethiopia Coffee 3 24
7. Arbaminch kenema 3 22
8. Defence – – 1 20
9. Woldia kenema 0 19
10. Woliata Dicha – -5 17
11.Ethio-Electric -2 15
12.Dire-Dawa kenema -8 15
13.Hawassa kenema -6 14
14.Jimma Aba Bunna -5 13
15.Ethiopia Nigid bank -9 13
16.Addis-Ababa kenema -8 10
Additional information: Festus Chuma
