Ethiopia national football team

The Ethiopian national football team, which calls itself Walyas ("the Ibexes"), is the national football team of Ethiopia and is under 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 1962 African Championship, held for the third time, which was won on home soil by beating Egypt 4-2 on penalties.

In 1963 and 1968 the Walyas finished fourth in the continental championship. Since the end of the 60s, sporting success was almost non-existent. The national team was one of the weakest in the African football association.

From 1972 onwards, Ethiopia failed to qualify for the African Championship twelve times. Four times the federation did not register. Only twice did the East Africans still take part in the competition - in 1976 and 1982 they were both eliminated in the first round.

The team has yet to qualify for a World Cup. The Ibexes were eliminated in the first round of qualifying for the 1962, 1978, 1982, 1986, 2002 and 2006 tournaments, and finished third in a four-team qualifying group before the 1994 tournament. Only for the 1970 and 1974 tournaments did the Ethiopians reach the second qualifying round, where they failed on both occasions. Ethiopia's entry was not accepted for the 1958 World Cup and there was no entry for the 1954, 1966, 1990 and 1998 tournaments.

It was not until 2005 that there was a resurgence, with the national team rising 23 places in the FIFA World Ranking with a record of seven wins, one draw and one defeat, as well as winning the CECAFA Cup. This upturn initially continued in the following years, as evidenced by their qualification for the African Championship for the first time in over 30 years. However, this was followed by another drop to 135th in 2011. 2013 saw another improvement, but after 93rd place came another drop to 151st in 2018.

In 2013, Ethiopia edged Rwanda in two matches to make their first appearance at the African Nations Championship in 2014.

Tournaments

World Cup

• 1930 - 1954 no participation
• 1958 - Application rejected by FIFA
• 1962 - not qualified
• 1966 - withdrawn
• 1970 - 1986 - not qualified
• 1990 - withdrawn
• 1994 - not qualified
• 1998 - withdrawn
• 2002 - not qualified
• 2006 - not qualified
• 2010 - disqualified
• 2014 - not qualified

In the 2014 World Cup qualifiers, Ethiopia first faced Somalia in a first and second leg. After a 0-0 draw in the away leg, they won the second leg 5-0. This put Ethiopia in the group stage to face Botswana, South Africa and the Central African Republic. Ethiopia initially qualified early for the next round by beating South Africa 2-1 on 16 June 2013. Ethiopia's original 2-1 win over Botswana on 8 June 2013 was changed by FIFA to a 3-0 win for Botswana on 1 July 2013, as Ethiopia fielded Minyahile Teshome Beyene, a player who was suspended after receiving two yellow cards. This left qualification for the next round open again. However, Ethiopia managed to win in Central African Republic on the last matchday to advance to the playoff round of group winners. There, the team lost both matches against Nigeria by 1:2 and 0:2, respectively, and thus missed the chance to be the first East African country to participate in the final round of a World Cup.

• 2018 - not qualified

African Championship

African Nations Championship

• 2009: not participated
• 2011: withdrawn in the qualification
• 2014: Preliminary round
• 2016: Preliminary round
• 2018: not qualified
• 2021: not qualified

Eastern / Central African Championship

Coach

• Germany Peter Schnittger (1974-1976)
• Athiopia Asrat Haile (2001)
• Germany Jochen Figge (2002-2003)
• Athiopia Asrat Haile (2003) interim
• Athiopia Seyoum Kebede (2003-2004)
• Athiopia Sewnet Bishaw (2004-2006)
• Athiopia Seyoum Abate (2006)
• Italy Diego Garzitto (2006-2007)
• Athiopia Tesfaye Fetene (2007)
• Athiopia Tsegaye Desta (2007)
• Athiopia Abraham Teklehaymanot (2008-2010)
• Scotland Iffy Onuora (2010-2011)
• Belgium Tom Saintfiet (2011)
• Athiopia Sewnet Bishaw (2011-2014)
• Portugal Mariano Barreto (2014-2015)
• Athiopia Yohannes Sahle (2015-2016)
• Athiopia Gebremedhin Haile (2016)
• Athiopia Ashenafi Bekele (2017)
• Athiopia Abraham Mebratu (2018-2020)
• Athiopia Wubetu Abate (since 2020)