Ethiopian Coffee SC.

Ethiopian Coffee SC.

Ethiopian Coffee Sport Club (Amharic: የኢትዮጵያ ቡና ስፖርት ክለብ), otherwise known as Ethiopian Buna, is a professional Ethiopian football club based in Addis Ababa. They are a member of the Ethiopian Football Federation and play in the top division of Ethiopian Football, the Ethiopian Premier League. Their home stadium is Addis Ababa Stadium. Along with rivals Saint George, it boasts one of the largest fan bases in Ethiopia.

History

Foundation (1976-1983)

Ethiopian Coffee Sport Club has its origins in 1976, when the employees of Kefa Coffee Processing decided to establish a football club. 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. 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. Thus, the first official name of the club became, "Yenegat Kokebe" (Morning Star) in reference to early raising factory workers who were also part-time footballers. The clubs second name was "Yebuna Gebeya (Coffee Market) Sport Club" .The club amassed an impressive four trophies and one fair play award during its first 6 years.

Restructure (1983-1997)

In 1984, the Addis Abeba 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. For the next ten years the club would stagnate in the second division of Ethiopian football. 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. In 1995, the club was restructured with financial support coming from the Ethiopian coffee exporters and by its steadily growing supporters.