Heavily financed St. George FC wins Ethiopian Premier League 2009 title

(JT) Defending champion Ethiopian football club St. George has won another championship after shrugging off arch-rival Ethiopian Coffee FC. In its last match of the tournament, the wealthy club St. George defeated Dire Dawa Kenema 4-3 to secure its latest title.

• Watch Ethio Tube news video on the tournament

Since the Premier League began in Ethiopia, St. George has dominated by taking eight of twelve championship titles. With the richest black man in the world and Saudi-Ethiopian billionaire Mohammed Al Amoudi as its main source of finance, St George FC has had an overwhelming resource advantage over all football teams in Ethiopia and perhaps over most clubs in Africa.

While the Philanthropist Al Amoudi supports various non-profit projects in Ethiopia, including in education and health sectors, some Ethiopians say the financial dominance of his St. George football club is a growing problem for the league's clubs and for the national team, particularly by reducing competition as most other clubs in Ethiopia are very poor. His supporters say he is helping to develop costly infrastructure for this sport's sector by investing. But Critics say St. George FC is able to buy the best players from other teams. Al Amoudi has recently been named the 43rd richest man in the world by the American FORBES magazine and he has reportedly donated over a million dollars to former US President Bill Clinton's foundation which supported Hillary Clinton's campaigns including her nomination as Secretary of State by the Obama administration. The Wollo-native Al Amoudi is also financing the construction of the new $80 million ETB stadium for St. George FC in Addis Ababa, which is expected to be built to FIFA standards.

.

Some believe the impact of lack of competition in Ethiopian football is displayed by the underperformance of top Ethiopian football clubs when they participate in continental club matches around Africa. Even though there are many other issues - including in the management - which have been cited for the underperformance of Ethiopian clubs and the national team at the continental stage, the large imbalance in capital between teams inside Ethiopia is said to be the new cause of increasing displeasure among football fans.

Meanwhile, these factors have also led to decreasing effort as some teams slack off thru games. Last week, the Ethiopian Football Federation (EFF) said it will be investigating games where clubs have purposely staged below-par performance. The games which have angered many fans include last week's matches between Adama City FC and Tigray's Trans-Ethiopia FC as well as between Oromia's Sebeta FC and St. George FC.