CAF | |
---|---|
Founded | 1943 |
FIFA affiliation | 1952 |
CAF affiliation | 1957 |
President | Juneidi Basha |
Website | http://www.theeff.org |
The Ethiopian Football Federation (EFF) is the governing body of football in Ethiopia. It was founded in 1943 and became affiliated with FIFA in 1952 and with CAF in 1957. It organizes the national football league and the national team.
In January 2008, dissatisfied with the "dismal" record of Ethiopian football, the General Assembly fired Dr. Ashebir Woldegiorgis, the head of the EFF, who refused to step down. However, the next month both the EFF and the CAF announced that they did not recognize Dr. Ashebir's dismissal. Despite this, the EFF membership refused to allow Dr. Ashebir access to his office. The standoff continued over the following months, which led to the FIFA suspending their membership 29 July 2008. As a result the Ethiopia-Morocco match scheduled for 5–7 September was canceled, and Ethiopia kicked out of the qualifying campaign for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. This crisis came to an end 16 May 2009, when Dr. Ashebir announced he would resign. Following elections for a new president 18 July, in which Sahlu Gebrewold Gebremariam became president, a three-man delegation from FIFA said that they were "satisfied with the result" and handed a FIFA flag to the new president as a token that the EFF had been readmitted to that body. Sahlu afterwards announced his priority as president was to heal the rift in the country over this sport, and to "facilitate a renaissance in Ethiopian football." The Ethiopia Football Association has elected Juneidi Basha as its new president to replace Sahilu Gebrewold. He beat three other candidates for the top football job in the East African nation, winning 55 of the 101 votes at Thursday's General assembly.
Juneydi, a businessman, represented the eastern region of Dire Dawa.