Ethiopian national soccer team

Ethiopia
Ityop'iya Federalawi Demokrasiyawi Ripeblik

Nickname (s)

Walyas (The Ibex )

Association

Ethiopian Football Federation

confederacy

CAF

Technical sponsor

Jako

Head coach

Abraham Mebratu (since 2018)

Record scorer

Getu Tilahun

Record player

Luciano Vassalo

Home stadium

Addis Ababa Stadium

FIFA code

ETH

FIFA rank

146. (1061 points)
(as of July 16, 2020)

First jersey

Second jersey

statistics

First international game Ethiopia 5-0 Djibouti ( Ethiopia ; May 1 , 1947 )

Biggest victory Ethiopia 8: 1 Djibouti ( Ethiopia ; March 27 , 1983 )

Biggest defeat Iraq 13-0 Ethiopia ( Jordan ; Aug 18 , 1992 )

Successes in tournaments

African Championship

Participation in the finals

10 ( first : 1957 )

Best results

African champion 1962

(Status: unknown)

The Ethiopian national soccer team , which calls itself Walyas ("the ibexes"), is the national soccer team of Ethiopia and is subordinate to the Ethiopian Football Federation .

The Ethiopian national team played a good role in African football in its early years. After finishing second and third, the Ethiopians won the title at the African Cup of Nations , which was held for the third time in 1962 , and which they won in their own country by beating Egypt 4-2 on penalties .

In 1963 and 1968 , the Walyas were fourth in the continental championship. Since the end of the 60s there has been almost no sporting success. The national team was one of the weakest in the African Football Association .

From 1972 on, Ethiopia failed twelve times to qualify for the Africa Championship. The association did not register four times. The East Africans only took part in the competition twice - in 1976 and 1982 they were eliminated in the first round.

The team has not yet managed to qualify for a soccer world championship . In the qualifications for the tournaments of 1962 , 1978 , 1982 , 1986 , 2002 and 2006, the Ibex were eliminated in the first round, before the tournament of 1994 as third in a qualifying group of four. Only for the tournaments of 1970 and 1974 did the Ethiopians reach the second qualifying round, in which they failed. For the 1958 World Cup , Ethiopia's registration was not accepted; there was no registration for the 1954 , 1966 , 1990 and 1998 tournaments .

There was an upturn only in 2005, when the national team improved by 23 places in the FIFA world rankings with a record of seven wins, one draw and one defeat, as well as winning the CECAFA Cup . This upswing has continued in the following years, which is shown, among other things, in the first-time qualification for the Africa Championship in over 30 years.

In 2013, Ethiopia was able to prevail in two games against Rwanda and is therefore represented at the African Nations Cup for the first time in 2014 .

Tournaments

World Championship

1930 - 1954 no participation
1958 - Registration rejected by FIFA
1962 - did not qualify
1966 - withdrawn
1970 - 1986 - does not qualify
1990 - withdrawn
1994 - did not qualify
1998 - withdrawn
2002 - did not qualify
2006 - did not qualify
2010 - disqualified
2014 - did not qualify

In qualifying for the 2014 World Cup , Ethiopia first met Somalia in the two legs . After a 0-0 away game, the second leg could be won 5-0. That put Ethiopia in the group stage and met Botswana , South Africa and the Central African Republic . With a 2-1 win against South Africa on June 16, 2013, Ethiopia qualified early for the next round. The original 2-1 win by Ethiopia on June 8, 2013 against Botswana was converted by FIFA into a 3-0 for Botswana on July 1, 2013, as Ethiopia had used Minyahile Teshome Beyene, a player who had two yellow cards was locked. With that the qualification for the next round was open again. On the last day of the match, Ethiopia was able to win in the Central African Republic and thus move into the group winners' play-offs. There the team lost both games against Nigeria with 1: 2 and 0: 2 and thus missed the chance to be the first East African country to take part in the finals of a soccer World Cup.