DIRE DAWA, March 27, 2024 - Ethiopian football fraternity began the day with the heart wrenching news of the untimely death of the nation’s football prodigy, Alelign Azene, 23. The Bahirdar City FC and Ethiopian National Team midfielder passed away at his home town Arbaminch.
Alelign was a highly respected and true professional with a great potential to reach great heights in his career. He was very instrumental in Bahirdar City’s historic 2nd place finish in the Ethiopian Premier League last year, which also earned him a place in the last 5 nomination for best player of the season.
He was nursing an ACL injury in his hometown Arbaminch with his family at the time of his sudden death. The real reason for his death has yet to be formally confirmed by legal bodies.
PLAYING CAREER Alelign’s playing career began at his hometown club, Arbaminch City FC, at an early age and he got promoted through all age groups to joining the main team. He later moved to the two-time league champions Hawassa City FC before joining Bahirdar City FC three years ago.
He was also a national team player and represented Ethiopia at the 2022 CHAN Championships staged in Morocco. As most people agree, he was one of the best players in the Ethiopian Premier League and was bound for a move abroad in the coming seasons.
TRUE PROFESSIONAL According to his colleagues Alelign was a top talent, true professional, a humble leader, who was promoted to vice captain rank at his current club at the start of the season.
He got married to his long-time girlfriend just three weeks ago in an Orthodox Christian religious ceremony at Bole Medhanialm Church in Addis Ababa.
The Ethiopian Football Federation, Ethiopian Premier League SC, clubs, coaches, colleagues and fans are mourning and paying tributes.
This week, all Ethiopian Premier League fixtures will observe a minute of silence before kick-off.
It has not been confirmed if Bahirdar City’s week 19 league fixture against Wolkitte City will go ahead as scheduled as all team members of Bahirdar city FC have travelled to Arbaminch from their current base Diredawa for his burial. The club also officially submitted a letter to the league to postpone their match to another time.
