In the 2008 African Cup of Nations qualifiers, Ethiopia finished bottom of their group after losing their last two games.
In July 2008, a FIFA Emergency Committee decided to suspend the Ethiopian Football Federation (EFF) due to their failure to comply with the road map agreed upon in February 2008 by FIFA, CAF and EFF in order to normalize the federation. The road map was established in Feb 2008 following the dismissal of the country's football federation president Ashebir Woldegiorgis by the countries authorities. One of the main points of the road map was the organization of an "extraordinary general assembly" to deal with the "motion of dismissal". In addition, the EFF offices were to be handed over to the recognized leadership of the federation.
The suspension of the EFF came into force on July 29, 2008, the day on which the federation had officially been notified of its suspension. Ethiopia played four group level matches in 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification before FIFA announced the immediate suspension of the Ethiopian Football Federation. On September 12, 2008, FIFA excluded the Ethiopian team from the 2010 World Cup qualifiers and the results of their matches were cancelled. Ethiopia's exclusion from the World Cup also led to their exclusion from the Africa Cup of Nations. While it was not clear if the team was also explicitly excluded from the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, their failure to complete the remaining fixtures effectively eliminated them from the tournament because the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification was also used to detemine the qualification for 2010 Africa Cup of Nations. The team also missed the 2008 CECAFA Cup due to this suspension.
In July 2009, the EFF was reinstated after organizing the extraordinary general assembly and electing new leaders as instructed by FIFA. FIFA's executive committee had voted a month before to lift the suspension so long as that EFF organized and chaired an elective general assembly. FIFA confirmed that it was satisfied with the election.
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