Relegated clubs push for 20-club league

New Edubiase United president, Abdul-Salam Yakubu, is spearheading a campaign for the Ghana Football Association (GFA) Congress to approve of a proposal that would see to the expansion of the Premier League from 16  to 20 teams beginning next season.

If endorsed by the FA’s highest decision-making body, the proposal for the 20-team league would also provide a back-door entry for relegated clubs like New Edubiase, Techiman City FC and Sekondi Hasaacas back into the elite division alongside promoted Accra Great Olympics, Elmina Sharks and Bolga All Stars.

The New Edubiase boss told the Graphic Sports in an interview yesterday that the radical proposal, which had the backing of some Regional FA chairmen and some club owners, is also a compromise solution for some difficult choices facing the Premier League, as it would accommodate Tema Youth and Dreams FC who both are involved in a litigation whose outcome could have serious ramifications for the competition.

“The next league season will be saddled with a lot of court cases if the 16-club league is maintained. This is because the case involving Tema Youth and Dreams FC is still pending, and if it is allowed to  continue, it will delay the start of  the league, and undermine the development of football in the country,” Mr Yakubu explained.

He said it was to avoid unforseen problems arising out of the Tema Youth-Dreams FC case, which was referred back to the GFA’s adjudicating bodies by the Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration for Sports, that he and stakeholders, including Messrs M.N.S. Doe and Greater Accra FA boss Eddie Doku, would make presentation at the next FA?Congress for a 20-club league format.

Mr Yakubu hinted also that all the relegated teams were in support of the league’s expansion, explaining that it would not only be attractive, but also bring sanity into the competition whose commencement could be delayed by the litigation between Dreams FC and Tema Youth.