St. George & Ethiopian Coffee to resume bitter rivalry on Sunday

Addis Ababa – EPL defending champions St. George and Ethiopian Coffee will resume their bitter rivalry when they face each other this Sunday for the second round of the Ethiopian Premier League championship.  The first round match ended scoreless. 

The Saints, who have one match in hand, lead the EPL with 59 points while Ethiopian Coffee is in fourth place, 18 points behind. But despite the large points’ disparity, it is never a dull moment when the two teams meet, and soccer fans here in the capital are looking forward to see an entertaining match, and the federation hopes to see a full house. 

A loss could jeopardize Coffee’s league standing as Mugher Cement, Harar Beer and Defense Forces sit right behind their tail with 39 points each. 

St. George has won 8 EPL titles since 1998, when the reformatted championship* was launched in 1997/8. Ethiopian Coffee is still looking for its first title. 

Based on the information* that we were able to collect, the two teams have met 18 times, with the Saints winning 10 wins,  Ethiopian Coffee registered 4 victories and there were 4 draws.  The Saints have scored 27 goals compared to 14 for Ethiopian Coffee.  The largest win for the Saints was a 4-1 victory in 1998/9; the two teams drew scoreless 3 times and in the 2000/01 season, Eth. Coffee beat the Saints twice (1-0).

*The list is not complete as we are missing results from the 2005/6, 2006/7 & 2007/8 seasons.  

1997/8 Season

St. George was in the second division then 

1998/9 Season:

St George          4-1 Coffee

St George          2-0 Coffee 

1999/00

Coffee             0-2 St George

St George       2-0 Coffee 

2000/01

St George       0-1 Coffee

Coffee             1-0 St George 

2001/02

Eth. Coffee         0-0 St. George

St. George          2-1 Eth. Coffee 

2002/03

Eth. Coffee     0-0 St George    

St George       2-1 Eth. Coffee  

2003/04

Eth. Coffee    1-0 St. George           

St. George     2-2 Eth. Coffee 

2004/05

Eth. Coffee        0-2 St. George

St. George         4-3 Eth. Coffee 

2005/06

St. George         vs  Eth. Coffee    (Match abandoned at 0-0 in 36′ due to crowd trouble)

St. George vs Coffee (2^nd round result Not Available)  

2006/07

St. George         3-1 Eth. Coffee

Return leg result not available 

2007/08

Not Available 

2008/09

Ethiopian Coffee 0-1 Saint George         

Saint George     1-2 Ethiopian Coffee 

2009/10

Dec 27

Saint George     0-0 Ethiopian Coffee