It has been more than seven years since he started scouting foreign Ethiopian players. Before he came to Ethiopia, he finished his studies in football management in Germany.
The former Ethiopian national team and Ethiopia Coffee player, David Basha, is known for working as an agent and a consultant. He has been scouting foreign-based players, suggesting them to the Ethiopian Football Federation (EFF). Recently, he officially agreed with the Ethiopian Football Federation (EFF) to serve as a scout. He was scouting for foreign Ethiopian players since September, following the national team’s qualification to the African Cup of Nations (AFCON).
After he scouted nine players, Walias Coach Wubetu Abate rejected to accept the players mentioning it was too late. Due to this reason, a dispute occurred between the scout, coach, and the EFF. The EFF stated that a passport issue has been hindering the process, however, there were various arguments surrounding Wubetu’s decision. Dawit Tolesa of The Reporter caught up with David Basha to discuss pertinent issues surrounding the sport. Excerpts:
The Reporter: You have been trying to recruit foreign Ethiopian players. When did you start the process?
David Basha: I started to research foreign-based players six or seven years ago. At that time, Yohanes Sahle was the national team coach.
In September last year (2021), I finally received authorization from the EFF to actively approach foreign-based Ethiopian players and recruit them.
How many foreign Ethiopian players are currently playing in Europe and tell us about their interests to play for the national team?
There are currently 126 players in Europe, according to my database. In total, I have 150. This includes youth players.
However, that is not the final list, which is growing and not complete. Surely there are even more players out there. I have not contacted all of them, but most players I reached out to, are interested.
Recently you have agreed with the EFF to recruit foreign Ethiopian players. What was your deal? Can you brief us on the process? Who pays your expenses?
I received authorization to approach players abroad on behalf of the EFF. I think it is no secret that I was advocating for this for several years. I find the players, create contact, do video-scouting and live scouting, and give this information to the EFF, and most importantly to the coach because he is the one who decides who to call-up.
The EFF said they have no money, so I started on my expense, but after the AFCON, we needed to plan how my work will be financially supported in the future by the EFF and other sponsors. So, yes, up to now I have covered my expenses by myself.
Coach Wubetu stated that it is too late to accept the players and the videos were very short. How do you explain his final response about your recruits?
Wubetu’s decision was based on a lack of knowledge. The excuse of a short time to include foreign-based players is just that: an excuse. To bring three, four or five foreign-based player’s, especially offensive players, would not have been a problem. They are professionals and can adapt very fast. I think they could have helped us a lot.
The other problem is Wubetu cannot simply assess the level of those foreign leagues. For example, an Ethiopian Premier League team would not be able to compete in Germany’s third tier Bundesliga. For example, Equatorial Guinea played with players from the fourth division in Spain. So, if I find an Ethiopian player playing in Spain’s fourth division, Wubetu would not take him because, “his quality is not good enough” but if we play against Equatorial Guinea, they will beat us with those players from Spain. Isn’t that ironic?? I think that explains it pretty well.
And by the way, because I heard this a few times: “Why do those foreign-based players only want to join the national team when we qualify for the AFCON? Where were they at the qualification games?” Well, they were there and ready to join the team. But how can you join a team, when you have not been called-up. So, that is simply not true. They were ready to join in qualification games, friendly games, whatever. But nobody called them. So, that’s important for me to clarify.
How do you see the EFF’s response? (Because the general secretary was saying that issues of passports was the main reason to reject the recruits, over issues of dual citizenship.)
Well to be honest, I thought the EFF will solve this pretty fast, otherwise, why did they authorize me in September of last year?
I don’t know the exact status at the moment; but I think the EFF general secretary, Bahiru Tilahun, said they started some processes. For more detailed information, you will have to ask him because I am not involved in the process.
Do you believe that passports were the main issue here and if the passport issue is still the problem, give us the solution to solve the problem?
Well, I would say yes. But of course, if the passport issue is solved and there is a coach not calling-on those players from abroad, then it is a coaching problem rather than a passport problem.
There are several examples of other nations that solved their passport issues. For example, Suriname introduced a sports passport. The EFF is aware of those nations. I am not sure if they have contacted them and just asked. Like I said, Bahiru probably is the one who is most up to date on the issue and what has been done so far by the EFF.
Is the travel expense of players covered by the EFF? Can you tell us your professional experience and views regarding this?
Of course travel expenses are usually covered by the EFF. I think if Wubetu would have called 3-5 players, we would have found a solution for that. You can be sure it would not have been a problem.
By the way, there is an airline called Ethiopian Airlines, the biggest in Africa, so I am sure it is also possible to have made some arrangements with them.
Have you changed your mind after Wubetu’s rejection?
Not at all.
