The Ethiopian Football Federation has announced today that a new league company is set to be incorporated on September 24 to take charge of Ethiopia’s top-flight football as of the new season.
In a press briefing held today at the new EFF Headquarters, the EFF vice president Colonel Awol Abdurahim was accompanied by Legal Advisor Birhanu Molla and other Federation officials.
The Vice president said that they have previously agreed with top-flight sides before the 2018/19 season onset and had several meeting with the clubs officials that the 2019/20 season would saw a new company is incorporated to take the commitment of the Ethiopian premier league.
If approved by the clubs on September 24, the new Share Company “Ethio league Share Company” will jointly be owned and managed by the 24 Premier League clubs and the EFF for now and those clubs who make up the League at any time soon each of the 24 clubs and the EFF as an entity are a shareholders to the company, each share have an Estimated value of 5 million Ethiopian birr (USD 169,492 ) to be paid in the coming 5 years with the initial one million two hundred and fifty thousand birr (USD 33,898 ) to be paid at inception.
The league company would be managed by a director appointed from the 7 members of the board of directors to be chosen from the 25 shareholders controlling the 4 departments beneath them.
Other issues are expected to be on the table on September 24 as the EFF is expected to have an assembly with the 24 top flight sides. regarding the inception of the league company, the EFF also disclosed that they have wrapped up the preparation of draft documents to be ratified on the assembly.
The incorporation of a league company has been a frequently raised issue in Ethiopian football for the past decade as it is expected to bring a lot to the Ethiopian football with Improved marketability of the league which in turn would facilitate an Increased investment into Ethiopian football. This bold move is expected to play a huge role in professionalizing Ethiopian clubs.
And also in the press conference, it was stated that starting from the new season with the new league format of 24 clubs winners of the groups will battle it out In neutral venue on a double encounter to be crowned Ethiopian Champion and as always they will represent Ethiopia in the CAF Champions League. Meanwhile, the new rule would also saw the runner up in the final match will book a place in the CAF Confederation Cup instead of the Ethiopian cup winner and the Winner of Ethiopian Cup is expected to represent Ethiopia in the CECAFA regional tournament. In addition, the EFF said that it has finalized a legal framework which would force each club participating in the new league must have a women’s team in parallel and also set to enforce a precondition which would force them to have men’s U-15 and U-17 teams.
