New appointee, Coach Abraham Mebrahatu of the Ethiopian football national team has unveiled his assistant coaches. Defending champions St. George and former Walias assistant coach Fasil Tekalegn, Hawassa City’s assistant coach Mulugeta Meheret who retired from football in 2016/17 were included in the current coaching staff.
The Ethiopian Football Federation (EFF) officially announced Abraham as the new coach of the national team on July 30, 2018 at Capital hotel. The contract was signed for a two year deal which will also see Abraham earn 125,000 birr per month.
Abraham stated that his coaching staff will have various members. Video analyst, nutritionist, media officer and fitness coaches will be assigned with the new coaching structure.
For the past eight month, the Ethiopian national team was without a coach leading to the absence of friendly matches and trainings. Coach Abraham vowed to commence the necessary preparations in the coming weeks in Hawassa city with experienced national team players for the AFCON qualification matches. However, Abraham also explained about his future national team squad which will mainly focus on young players.
According to EFF’s statement, Ethiopia being the host country of the 2020 African Nations Championship, the new appointed coach is expected to build an impressive and consistent national team.
Meanwhile, the EFF requested a friendly match with the Eritrean national team. Nevertheless, the national team will have two friendly matches with West African teams.
Walias will face Sierra Leone on September 7, 2018 in the second round African cup of nations (AFCON) qualification match.
It is to be recalled that Abraham was coaching the Yemen national team and helped them qualify to Asia cup through war.
Ethiopia is grouped with Kenya, Ghana and Sierra Leone. Ghana beat Walias 5-0 in the first round of games.
