Ethiopia Nigd poised for first title, Mechal waits for slip

Saturday is the final day of the League and Ethiopia Nigd Bank otherwise known as CBE - Commercial Bank of Ethiopia looks set to win their first title with a win over Ethiopian Insurance

However, if they fail to win and their only challengers, Mekelakeya now known as Mechal beats Dire Dawa City, they will be Champions after 35 years.

That is the setting for Saturday in Hawassa City with both games being staged simultaneously at 3pm CAT as the Ethiopia Premier League closes it's 26th ( or 76th as a national Championship) season.

The 2023/24 seaosn will produce a new title holder and the 6th in the league's history, Ethiopia Nigd Bank or Mechal.

Ethio Electric(Mebrat Hayil) was the first winner of the league in the new format(1997/98) and added another one after three years.

St George have won a record 16 times, and Hawassa City are the third multi title winner and while the likes of Ethiopia Bunna, Dedebit, Jimma Aba Jifar, Mekele 70 Enderta and Fasil Kenema have each won the league title once.

Ethiopia Nigd Bank or Mechal will be the new winners of the league.

Ethiopia Nigd Bank, league leaders, was back in the league after five years by Betselot Leulseged and they started the recuirment of top talent immediately after they confirmed their promotion.

They signed a lot of experienced campaigners, top stars in the league and capped in the national team.

The all-star team struggled at the start of the season because they obviously needed time to blend in but soon hit their strides.

They were unbeaten to the 10th week and then came unstuck against Dire Dawa but soon got back to consecutive unbeaten ways.

They looked unstoppable at some point a few weeks ago before two difficult draws against St George and Bahir Dar cost them their big lead, and with Mechal winning games, the title has gone to the wire.

Mechal is one of the oldest clubs in the league and this sport club is celebrating its 80th year by different events.

How they will relish winning the league title to celebrate the milestone but it's not on their hands as they will have to wait for CBE to drop points.

Mechal has won 11 Ethiopian Championships, included in the name of Army, their last national championship was 35 years ago.

The team hasn't won a national championship and League title in new format from 1998 to date, so this will be special.

They were relegated in 2018/19 season and ended up spending two seasons at Higher league before winning promotion back in 2021/22.

Since their return to the topflight, the club has worked hard to regain their past glory with the restructuring from top to the bottom including hiring Abrham Mebratu as technical director and returning to their former name Mechal from Mekelakeya.

This season under Gebrekisrtsos Birara has been their closest to the league title after multiple decades.

The team is full of experienced players, including Shimeles Bekele who played nine years at Egypt league.

They need to beat Dire Dawa City and hope that CBE loses or draws with Ethiopian Insurance.

A new name will be written on the Trophy.

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