Hadiya Hosaena

A single match stood between Hadiya Hosaena FC and Ethiopia's top flight, and it went to Mekelle City FC, 2-1, in a promotion playoff. The defeat closed out the 2016-17 season, in which Hadiya Hosaena had finished second in Group B of the Ethiopian Higher League with 53 points — enough to reach the playoff, not enough to get past it.

The Tigers, as the club is known, carry the name of Hosaena, the capital of the Hadiya Zone in the Central Ethiopia Regional State. Their ground, the Abiy Hersamo Memorial Stadium, holds 5,000 spectators, and it is from there that Hadiya Hosaena has gone on to compete in the Ethiopian Premier League.

A cup final has come the club's way too: at the Addis Ababa City Cup, where Ethiopia Coffee FC stood as the opponent. No title followed, and no major honours mark the club's record at all — the runners-up finish that preceded the Mekelle City playoff remains the closest Hadiya Hosaena has come to silverware.

The club took shape in 2006, in the town of Hosaena itself.