NEWS
Ethiopian Football Federation part ways with head coach Wubetu
The Ethiopian Football Federation (EFF) has parted ways with head coach Wubetu Abate.
EFF announced today that following Abate’s resignation later submitted last week, they have agreed to part ways with the coach by mutual consent.
“Following the decision of the EFF executive committee to accept the resignation, the contract has been terminated by mutual consent,” said the communication by the Federation.
Abate was appointed coach of Ethiopia’s national team in September 2020 after the Federation opted not to renew the contract of former coach Abraham Mebratu.
“ I sincerely thank you for the contributions you have made to our country as head coach of the Ethiopian Senior men national team. I wish you all the best,” said the EFF General Secretary Bahiru Tilahun.
The experienced Abate was also head coach for the national team when it failed to make it out of the group stage at the recent 2022 TotalEnergies African Nations Championship (CHAN) held in Algeria.
In the on-going 2023 TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers under the guidance of Abate Ethiopia is bottom of Group D after four matches with 3 points after their famous 2-0 win against Egypt. But the Ethiopian team has only picked one win and lost three matches.
Abate, a former player, managed numerous domestic sides, including Adama City, Ethiopian Coffee, Dedebit, Commercial Bank of Ethiopia, Hawassa City, Fasil Kenema, and Sebeta Town FC. He also had a brief stint at Sudanese Premier League side, Al Ahli Shendi. He led Ethiopian Coffee to their first ever major trophy in a decade back in 2011. He also won the 2019 Ethiopian Cup with Fasil Kenema.
The Walias of Ethiopia are expected to have a new coach when they tour the United States of America in July this year.
KVZ FC will represent Zanzibar in the 2026/2027 TotalEnergies CAF Champions League.
The KVZ FC side emerged champions of the 2025/2026 Zanzibar PBZ Premier League giving the army team the ticket to play in Africa’s biggest tournament.
KVZ FC were crowned champions on Friday after finishing with 67 points from 30 matches played, while JKU SC came second with 64 points.
Hussein Ahmada, General Secretary of the Zanzibar Football Federation (ZFF) says they had a successful season. “We thank all the teams and our sponsors PBZ Bank for the constant support of Football,” added Ahmada.
The Zanzibar champions will however start their test of continental Football when they take part in the regional CECAFA Kagame Cup to take place in Rwanda next month.
Several members from Member Associations in the CECAFA Zone are attending the 2026 FIFA Executive Football Summits 2026 in Miami, United States.
The Presidents and General Secretaries of Member Associations of Burundi, Sudan, Kenya, Ethiopia and Rwanda have joined other members from around the world to exchange ideas, strengthen relationships and shape the future of the game.
Among other things the summit is being used as a platform to sensitise Member Associations on key FIFA programmes, including the FIFA Forward programme and the scheduled launch of FIFA Forward 4 in January 2027.
Mattias Grafström, the FIFA Secretary General opened the plenary session by setting out the summit’s dual ambition: a formal programme of sessions covering youth development and strategy, alongside the informal exchange of ideas that has become a hallmark of the event.
FIFA Executive Summit 2026
The FIFA President Gianni Infantino also thanked all members for attending the Summit. “Ten years ago, those of you who are a little bit older maybe remember the Development Programme that FIFA had was granting to every Member Association one million (US dollars) in four years, meaning 250,000 US dollars per year,” said Infantino.
He explained that today with FIFA Forward 3.0, Member Associations receive US$8 million (around two million every year), to invest in competitions, to invest in infrastructure, and to invest in football-related projects.
He also added that the FIFA Series, which was played in a total of 12 different countries in 2026 between the women’s and men’s editions, was an example of how FIFA was helping MAs. Rwanda and Kenya hosted the FIFA Series this year for the men and Women respectively.
Africa’s top male referee Omar Abdulkadir Artan has been selected to officiate the the Union of European Football Associations – UEFA Super Cup final in August, 2026.
“We’re pleased to share that Somali referee Omar Artan will officiate the highly anticipated match between PSG and Aston Villa in Salzburg,” said the statement from UEFA.
The development comes after the Somali referee was selected to officiate at the FIFA World Cup 2026, but was denied entry into US early this week and returned back home.
The European soccer body UEFA said Artan will referee the math on August 12th game between the Champions League winner Paris Saint-Germain and Aston Villa, the Europa League winner. The game will be in Salzburg, Austria.
The European Soccer body said the decision to appoint Artan to officiate the UEFA Super Cup match has been made in the framework of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) recently signed between UEFA and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to encourage cooperation in many areas, including refereeing. “UEFA and CAF are united by a shared commitment to developing football at all levels and promoting the core values of unity, equality and non-discrimination,” said UEFA on their website.
On Wednesday Artan received a hero’s welcome back in Mogadishu, and also met the President of the Federal Republic of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.
The Harambee Stars of Kenya have settled for a 1-1 draw against Lesotho in an International friendly match played on Thursday in Pretoria, South Africa.
Frank Odhiambo gave Kenya the lead after 14 minutes at the Lucas Moripe Stadium.
The two teams continued to create some decent scoring opportunities, but failed to convert them.
After recess the Lesotho team re-organised themselves and leveled matters through Thabo Makhele. The match ended 1-1 and the two teams will face-off again on June 7th at the same Stadium.
Ethiopia will also be in action against Malawi on June 6th at the Addis Ababa Stadium, and the second match to be played after three days.
The other teams from the Council of East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA) Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda had their scheduled matches in Morocco cancelled due to sanitary and public health considerations.
The teams are using the FIFA Window to play International friendly matches as they prepare ahead of the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2027 qualifiers.
-
CAF Champions League8 months agoYoung Africans draw Al Ahly for CAF Champions League group stage
-
CAF African Nations Championship2 years agoAfrican Nations Championship 2025 dates announced
-
CAF African Nations Championship10 months agoCHAN 2024: Kenya lead group, to face Madagascar in quarter final stage
-
CECAFA11 years agoBotswana beats Kenya in African Youth Championships
-
FIFA WOrld Cup Qualifiers10 months agoUganda win, Tanzania pick late draw in FIFA World Cup qualifiers
-
FIFA U-17 World Cup 20257 months agoUganda ejects Senegal to storm FIFA U-17 World Cup round of 16
-
NEWS5 years agoYoung Africans SC face Nyasa Big Bullets in CECAFA Kagame Cup kick-off
-
Top stories6 years agoWe need to win the first match against Coronavirus – Infantino