GFA announces new date for Premier League commencement

The 2020-21 Ghana Premier League start date has been rescheduled to November, the Football Association (GFA) has announced.

Kick-off has now been set for the weekend of November 13-16.

The news comes in the wake of concerns about an October 30 commencement timeline announced by Ghana president Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo during a State of the Nation Address on Sunday.

The November restart will mark the return of the top-flight for the first time since March when football was suspended nationally due to the coronavirus outbreak.

"The Ghana Football Association is pleased to announce the 2020-2021 season will commence in November," the GFA published on its official website on Thursday.

"This follows the decision of government to give the green light for football to resume.

"The Nations flagship competition, the Ghana Premier League is expected to kick start from Friday, November 13, 2020. While, the Division One League kicks off on December 3, 2020. The Women’s Premier League is set to kick off on January 2, 2021.

"It’s been well over six months since football in Ghana was halted due to Covid-19 and with the game set to resume, many are anticipating for a great comeback, looking at how the annulled season was exciting."

At the matchweek 15 stage, the 2019-20 GPL season was initially temporarily halted in March over safety concerns after Ghana recorded its first cases of coronavirus and a national ban on all public gatherings, including football, came into force.

In June, the GFA Executive Council took a decision to permanently cancel the term altogether owing to uncertainty over a possible restart date.

On Sunday, Ghana president Akufo-Addo lifted the ban on football, going ahead to announce October 30 as the date for commencement of a new football season, the 2020-21 term.

There have, however, been concerns about the October date as many stakeholders believe teams will not have enough time to adequately prepare for the challenge ahead.

As part of Ghana’s return to play protocol, “No spectators will be allowed at team training centres, sitting at all stadia will be limited to 25 per cent capacity during matches to ensure social distancing while wearing of masks by spectators at stadia will be mandatory”.