Kolkata: What happened to the man who scored the first goal in the history of the Indian Super League, the man who became the fans’ favourite for his amazing goals, the man who used to excite the fans with his unique somersault celebrations in the first two ISL celebrations, the man who was one of those rare foreign footballers to win two ISL titles for two different ISL franchises? www.xtratime.in traces the present status of Fikru Teferra, the forgotten hero of the ISL as the fans hardly know about him as he departed after leading Atletico de Kolkata and Chennaiyin FC to win the titles.
His controversial stint in Bangladesh: After leaving India, Fikru joined Bangladeshi club Sheikh Russel KC. As expected Fikru started brilliantly as he was the highest paid footballer in Dhaka football history. The start in the Independence Cup was extremely bright. He started scoring from his very first game against Aarambagh and scored a fantastic hat-trick in his second game against BJMC. He finished the competition with five goals by his name. The fans too started to get excited about him. People also started calling him the ‘Poster Boy’ of Bangladesh football.
But unfortunately he lost his way again after such a great start. It is learnt that he suddenly became the “bad boy” for his ‘trademark’ behaviours. He threw a solid punch on the face of fellow Cameroonian defender Emely to leave him down with blood and injury. He hardly trained even 10 days during his tenure of 6 months at the club. He started to ‘hide himself’ behind the defenders of the opposition team. He lost his goal-scoring boots as well, and ended up becoming a “headache” for the team management.
His return to South Africa: The former ATK and Chennaiyin striker had last played for South African club The Highlanders they try to avoid relegation and ended up becoming successful in it. Fikru first came to South Africa to join Pirates in 2006. After spending one season with Bucs, he joined SuperSport in 2007. The powerful striker then went to the Czech Republic to play for FK Mlada Boleslav in 2009, but he came back to SuperSport the following year. Teferra has also played for Free State Stars, University of Pretoria, Milano United and Bidvest Wits in South Africa.