St George and Fasil jostle for fifth spot as Bahir Dar eye third

St George take on Fasil City in their final game of the Ethiopia Premier League season knowing neither of them will be champions this season.

Sidama Coffee, Hawassa's second team, host Bahir Dar City who could finish third with a win.

The Ethiopia Premier League is in its last week of the 2023/24 season. The first matches were played on Wednesday and the season will conclude on Saturday.

There will be two matches on Thursday at Hawassa University stadium, with St George, winners of the last two seasons (2022/23 and 2023/24) taking on Fasil who won in 2020/21.

Both teams were expected to be in the title race throughout the season and were in the top two of most of the predictions to win the title.

Instead they will be playing for fifth spot, which St George currently occupy on 45 points with Fasil in sixth place with 44 points.

The Horsemen went through a crisis on and off the pitch and have recently played against league leaders CBE and their eternal rivals, Ethiopia Coffee with mostly young and inexperienced players.

This will be recorded as a poor season for the 15-times league winners as they will be finishing uncharacteristically below fourth place this season by their very high standards.

Fasil City will look as this season as one in which they were in transition but with their depth of talent, experienced players and high-profile coach, as well as boasting the most international capped players, they would have targeted more.

Wubetu Abate had promised that he will try to build a competitive team that can take the title in the 2024/25 season.

BAHIR DAR EYE THIRD SPOT

The other match of the day will be between Sidama Coffee and Bahir Dar City.

Sidama Coffee have not really taken advantage of playing so many games at home as they registered only two wins at Hawassa.

Zelalem Shiferaw's team will go into this match looking to achieve back-to-back wins for only the second time this season.

Bahir Dar City have a chance to finish the league in third spot as Ethiopia Coffee lost to Hadiya Hosanna.

The Tana Waves' last defeat was 145 days ago on 9 February to Hadiya Hosanna.

Degeareg Yigzaw's team have won eight of the last 15 matches and drew in seven of those game, a remarkable feat coming into this fixture.