Ydnekatchew Tessema - Later

Later

He is considered as one of the country's biggest sporting heroes. He played and coached Ethiopian clubs and teams and founded the modern Ethiopian Sports office at age 22. As a player he spent his entire career at Saint-George SA in Addis Ababa, joining the youth team in 1935 at age 14. Wearing the V across his chest he played 23 years straight with them including his youth years, a country record. Another record he holds is scoring 43 of 47 goals scored by his team in one competition season. When the Ethiopia national football team started playing international football in 1947, he was already 28 years old and the squad was vying for younger players, nevertheless he would get 15 caps to his name. His first cap was May 1, 1947 in a 5-0 victory over Djibouti. His record for the country led him to coach the Ethiopia national football team, after his retirement as player for a glorious period, and in 1962, at age 41 when the African Cup of Nations was to be held in Ethiopia, he led them to their only championships in this respected tournament,beating Egypt 4-2 in the final. Ethiopian football was at its peak then, as Haile Selassie the emperor of Ethiopia awarded them the trophy.

He would lead many Ethiopian sports delegations, including Ethiopia's Olympic teams to Rome 1960, to Tokyo 1964 and to Mexico 1968. Summer Olympics. He was the leader of the struggle that expelled apartheid South Africa from African Football in 1960, from the Olympics in 1971 and from FIFA in 1976.