Red Sea FC Set to End Denden's Two-Year Reign as Eritrean Champions

Denden's grip on the Eritrean title is slipping, and it happened on a night they weren't even on the pitch against their rivals. The army-owned side, champions for the past two seasons, lost 1-0 to Asmara Beer at Asmara Stadium, with Fanuel Asefa scoring eight minutes from time off a Yonatan Netserab cross, according to Pan Africa Football. Denden also finished the match with ten men after Somsom Mikael was sent off for violent conduct.

Red Sea did their part too. Saleh Seud's early goal was enough to see off third-placed Adulis 1-0, stretching Red Sea's lead over Denden to three points with one round to go.

The two rivals now meet head to head in the final round, Sunday, July 12, at Asmara Stadium, but the maths already favors the Asmara giants. Red Sea's goal difference is commanding enough that Denden would need something close to a 12-goal swing to overtake them, per Pan Africa Football's reporting, effectively putting the title out of reach barring the kind of collapse nobody in Asmara is expecting.

Red Sea head coach Ermias Tewlde isn't waiting for the mathematics to be confirmed. "I am so content that we have managed to win the title," he told Eritrean National Football Federation media, while still framing Sunday as a chance to seal it properly against Denden.

If it holds, it extends what is already the most decorated run in the league's history, a club that has spent the past three decades as the benchmark other Eritrean sides are measured against, now taking back the crown from the military-backed side that dethroned them in 2023/24.