Member Association Focus: Ethiopia
Our weekly Member Association focus falls on Ethiopia, a founder member of the Confédération Africaine de Football in 1957.
National team
Ethiopia had a disappointing TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2025 qualifying campaign, finishing bottom of Group H with four points from their six fixtures. But the fact they finished with a 2-1 away triumph over group winners, the Democratic Republic of Congo, will have come as a major boost to the side. In Benghazi on Wednesday, Ethiopia will be attempting to overcome a 2-0 deficit as they take on Sudan in the second leg of their TotalEnergies CAF African Nations Championship qualifiers. In March, they resume their FIFA World Cup qualification hopes with home matches against Egypt and Djibouti in Group A. Ethiopia’s women can look forward to February’s kick off of the TotalEnergies CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2026 qualifiers, where they have been drawn against Uganda.
Clubs
Ethiopia Nigd Bank participated in the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League for the first time after their inaugural Premier League title in 2024 but after a bright start in the first round against SC Villa of Uganda, where they won the first leg away in Kampala, were eliminated at the second hurdle by Young Africans of Tanzania. They had been hoping to emulate Kidus Giorgis, who in 2017 became the first, and to date only, Ethiopian club to reach the group phase of the Champions League. In the first round of the TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup, Ethiopia Bunna narrowly lost to Kenya’s Police 1-0.
Leadership
Isayas Jira Bosho was elected as president of the Ethiopian Football Federation in 2018 and is leading his country’s efforts to host a future TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations tournament. Prior to his election, he was general manager at Premier League outfit, Jimma Aba Jifar, who won the championship in 2017.
History
Ydnekatchew Tessema was the long standing, and much revered, president of the Confédération Africaine de Football from 1972 until his untimely death in August 1987. He had been at the vanguard of pressing for better African representation in both FIFA’s structures and its tournaments and was a dogged fighter for better opportunity for the continent’s footballers. He was an international footballer for Ethiopia and captained the national side from 1948 to 1954, co-founding while he was still playing as a free-scoring centre forward the Ethiopian Football Federation. He was one of the co-founders of CAF in 1957 and served on FIFA’s executive committee for a total of 21 years. Tessema wrote the statutes, regulations and devised the multiple structures that CAF still use today.