🇪🇹 Cotton Factory Club (Ethiopia)

Cotton Factory Club (Ethiopia)

Cotton Factory Club (also known as Cotton FC), based in Dire Dawa, was a prominent Ethiopian football club that existed from 1936 until its dissolution in 2000.

It was founded in 1936 as a works team linked to the city’s cotton factories/textile industry, during a period of early organized football in Ethiopia (influenced in part by the Italian occupation era). The club played its home matches at Dire Dawa Stadium (capacity around 18,000).

Cotton Factory Club was one of Ethiopia’s most successful sides in the mid-20th century, especially in the 1960s, when Dire Dawa clubs (including local rival Ethio-Cement) dominated the national scene. It won the Ethiopian national championship (predecessor to or early form of the Premier League) five times: in 1960, 1962, 1963, 1965, and 1983.

On the continental stage, it reached the semi-finals of the inaugural African Cup of Champions Clubs in the 1964–65 season (eliminated by Stade Malien of Mali).

The club competed in the modern Ethiopian Premier League after its establishment in the late 1990s but was relegated as bottom of the table in the 1999–2000 season and dissolved afterward, typically due to the financial and organizational pressures that have affected many Ethiopian clubs (especially those tied to industries or institutions).

#NeverForget