ADDIS ABABA –The Ethiopian side Jimma Abajifar suffered a 1-0 home defeat at the hands of the visiting side Hussini Al Agadin of Morocco on Sunday at the Addis Ababa stadium in the first leg of the CAF Confederation Cup. The visitors found the net in the second half.
This was the second attempt for Jimma Abajifar to take part in the continental game. Jimma faced early exit from the champions league after they were defeated by the Egyptian Al Ahli side by aggregate 2-1 result. To the surprise of many Jimma had a 1-0 win over Al Ahli in the return leg in Addis. But in the first leg held in the Egyptian city of Alexandria Jimma Abajifar suffered a 2-0 defeat.
Despite the win on home ground they (Jimma Abajifar) faced an early exit from the CAF Champion’s League with an aggregate 2-1 result. Considering the big name and fame of the Egyptian side many Ethiopian football fans had the fear that Jimma Abajifar would be disastrously defeated in the first away leg but they managed a close range 2-0 defeats.
To make things sensational, in the return leg they played extremely well and beat the unstoppable Al Ahli. This time Jimma Abajifar didn’t repeat the feat they had shown during the match against Al Ahli. Jimma Abajifar’s assistant coach Yusuf Ali at the end of the game said that his side didn’t play well in this crucial match. “We have given our advantage to the guest team in this game. We will try to reverse this result in the second leg but it is a sure thing that it will be an uphill campaign,” the coach admitted.
The 2018–19 CAF Confederation Cup, officially the 2018–19 Total CAF Confederation Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the 28th edition of Africa’s secondary club football tournament organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), and the 16th edition under the current CAF Confederation Cup title.
This season will follow a transitional calendar which allows the CAF club competitions to switch from a Februaryto-November schedule to an August–toMay schedule, as per the decision of the CAF Executive Committee on 20 July 2017. It started in December 2018, right after the 2018 season has finished, and end in May 2019, before the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations which is switched from January/February to June/July. The next season will then start after the Africa Cup of Nations and follow the new calendar.
The winners of the 2018–19 CAF Confederation Cup will earn the right to play against the winners of the 2018–19 CAF Champions League in the 2019 CAF Super Cup. Jimma reached this stage beating the Djibouti Telecom side in the preliminary round in their first international match. Jimma Abajifar succeeded in winning the Ethiopian Premier League, EPL, trophy in their debut. Winning the EPL trophy was not even expected by Jimma Abajifar last year. Jimma Abajifar are the first side to win title in the 75-year of the Ethiopian football club history in their debut. Seen as is this was a big achievement.
They are also the second club to take the EPL side in the last 22 years from the regional sides. The EPL is a new structure based on home and away basis with clubs from different regions. As per this structure which was introduced in 1997/98 season, Hawassa City earned the trophy two times. They were the first football club to kiss the EPL title from the regions. St. George won a record 14 times while Electric snatched two times. The sad part is that Electric are currently playing in the second tier. Coffee and Dedebit won title once each. All St, George, Electric, Coffee and Dedbit belong to Addis Ababa. Of course, Dedebit changed their seat this season to Mekele.
Herald January 15/2019
BY SOLOMON BEKELE
