Ethiopian Coffee Sport Club has its origins in 1976, when the employees of Kefa Coffee Processing decided to establish a football club. The club was formed in 1975 as Yebuna Negat and started playing at AEWA Factory workers third division.
Yidnekachew Tessema Stadium (Addis Ababa Stadium)
Early Years and Development
After gathering the required number of players, the club was registered as Coffee Board Sport Club on the kebele level in order to take part in local tournaments. For three years, the team competed in kebele competitions, the lowest level amateur league at that time. The club then moved to playing in the AEWA Factory workers Association level, the third division of Ethiopian football at the time.
Funded largely by the Kefa factory workers at the time, the club offered its players employment at the factory as an incentive to keep them at the club. As a result, players would work the morning shift at the factory and then play football in the evenings. Following the establishment of the Addis Ababa Sport Council in 1979, which encouraged teams to compete in the first football league in the county’s history, Ethiopian Coffee reinvented itself.
In 1984, the Addis Ababa Sports council was created in an effort to reorganize clubs in the city. As a result, the club officially changed its name to Ethiopian Coffee Sports Club under the management of the National Coffee Trading Corporation, then a government enterprise. The club was restructured in 1995.
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According to Fekade, financing the team was not an issue to worry about. “Our Corporation was rich. But we knew we had to create a sense of belongingness between the team and our employees. By the time the labour union agreed to contribute around 1-1.5Pct of employee’s salary, the Addis Ababa Football Federation had finished registration of teams to participate in the city tournament.
Ascension to the Top Division
In 1994, with better financial backing, the club was able to sign top talents like Million Begashaw from Maritime and Mengistu Bogale from Berta S.C. These new signings helped the club earn promotion to the first division by virtue of winning the second division. The club won the first division title for the first time in its history in the 1996-97 season.
By virtue of winning their first title, the club represented Ethiopia in the 1998 CAF Champions League. That same year, Aseged Tesfaye became the first player In CAF Champions League history to score five goals in a single match against St. Michel United FC (Seychelles) in an 8-2 preliminary round win.
In the late 80s Coffee had a team with their legendary players, like Million, Kassaye Arage, and Mulugeta Woldeyes.
Financial Challenges and Revival
For many years, the club has faced financial constraints. As a result, it was never able to attract big names and foreign players until recently.
Ethiopia coffee FC song - Nafkote ( ናፍቆቴ ) 2025
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In December 2008 The Ethiopia Commodity Exchange (ECX) bought Coffee, and Meta Abo Brewery signed a three-year sponsorship contract, both of which were expected to help the struggling football club. For years, Ethiopian coffee growers and exporters used to collect ETB5 per tonne from the coffee production to support the team financially. However, the establishment of Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) in 2008 threatened to halt the major finance source of the team until the former CEO of ECX, Eleni Gebre-Medhin (PhD) came to recognise how big the club is.
“She questioned the legal basis for financing the club. Then, ECX carried out a very simple survey to assess if the stakeholders in the coffee sector really know and support the team. The result was good enough to change the CEO’s mind. Now the club’s income from coffee growers, suppliers, exporters, roasters and wholesalers had grown to ETB30 per tonne.
Premier League Triumph and Recent Developments
Ethiopian Coffee were triumphant in their 2010-11 campaign, winning the Ethiopian Premier League Title. In 2010, Ethiopian Coffee FC won their first ever Premier league title beating St. George and Defence Forces Fc. The celebration Addis witnessed when Ethiopia Coffee clinched the first and only premier league title can only be comparable with that of the national team’s qualification to the African Cup of Nations in 2012.
In a 2016 meeting with supporters, long time club chairman LT. Fekade Mamo stated the main priority of the club was not competing for a league title, but rather survival in the top division. At the start of the 2017-18 Season the team hired Serbian manager Kostadin Papic to a two-year contract.
Last year, their income even surpassed expenses by more than ETB4 million. This year, the club plans to collect ETB43 million, which is around ETB10 million more than last year’s revenue. Having a well diversified finance source, Coffee seems to be at much lower risk of financial instability.
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Fan Base and Club Identity
Ethiopian Coffee arguably have Ethiopia's largest football fan base. The club's supporters have been involved in some incidents of football hooliganism. Biruk Sentayehu, 45, is one of the many loyal fans of Ethiopian Coffee. He claims to have never missed a single match his team had in Addis in the past two decade.
“I started to support the team ever since I was a teenager,” He says. “I think the reason for having a strong and committed fan base is because of the management and the supporter’s effort to build a team that has massive public support,” he says. Many, including Fekade, think the way the team plays football might be one of the reasons for its huge fan base.
If Ethiopian households coffee gathering is beautifully ceremonial, the stadium atmosphere where Ethiopian Coffee FC (Buna) plays seems to be its facsimile. Coffee’s home fixtures never go by unnoticed. While some appear in every corner of the town in a convoy of taxi mini buses and pickups flying the yellow-brown flags, others stay in pubs closer to the sporting arena. In the stadium they demonstrate passion for the game and love for their club - they are just stunning to watch. They sing and jump enthusiastically. The atmosphere is incredible.
The Ethiopian Coffee logo has gone through some changes since the club's inception in the mid 70's. While the emphasis on the traditional coffee pot is present in previous logos, the vibrant maroon and gold colors in the current logo are what give the club its identity.
Ethiopian Coffee has historically played at Yidnekachew Tessema Stadium, also known as Addis Ababa Stadium. The ground has witness many occasions of violence in recent years between different sets of supporters including that of Ethiopian Coffee.
Sponsorships
In 2000, Ethiopian Coffee signed a sponsorship deal with a local car dealership, Ultimate Motors. That same year, Meta Abo Brewery signed a three-year sponsorship contract, which was expected to help the struggling football club. In 2011, the club signed a shirt sponsorship deal with Habesha Brewery, their third ever sponsorship deal following Worbek and Meta Abo Brewery.
Current Status
This year marked the 41st anniversary of Ethiopian Coffee Football Club. The anniversary came at a time the club is financially stable. That’s become a thing of the past and in fact the club is now stronger than before and considered a rival to the nation’s oldest, richest and very popular club, St. George. Its fans are also considered the most committed and cheerful supporters.
Now Chanyalew (Gashie Chane, as the younger fans affectionately call him) is a happy man. He usually attends matches that the Coffee FC plays in Addis. Seeing the team he helped its establishment 40 years ago growing bigger and bigger, pleases him so much. In a meeting held recently, the fans association surprised Chane with an award fully waiving fees to attend the club’s games for life. “He deserves even more,” said Solomon Tamrat, vice president of the association.
Though he looks a bit concerned about some divisive motives among the fans, Fekade hopes Coffee will grow bigger. “I see Coffee as my first born child,” says the father of three. Even sitting in his office where he runs his business, Mochaland Import & Export, the general manager never quit thinking of his team. Rolling his eyes around, one can only see certificates, personal trophies, and photographs related to Ethiopia Coffee. On top of the signing board that the fans brought to him recently, one can see various handwritten words.
Achievements
- Ethiopian Premier League Champions: 1996-97, 2010-11
