League not likely to start on Dec 20 - Saani Daara

The Ghana FA has hinted it could postpone the tentative start date for the 2015/16 Premier League season due to pending litigation.

The GFA had planned to start the league on December 20 but outstanding issues legal with the promotion of Dreams FC and Techiman City FC has left the commencement of the league in uncertainty.

Techiman City FC’s promotion from Zone 1 is being challenged after being hit with allegations of bribery.

The GFA’s Appeals Committee only recently ordered for the fresh hearing of the case by a ‘well constituted’ Ethics Committee after an initial decision to demote the club to even a lower division.

Dreams FC who qualified from Zone 3 on the other hand, are being challenged by Tema Youth for using an unqualified player.

Tema Youth have earlier in the week reported the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) after exhausting all legal means within the GFA.

And Ghana FA spokesman Ibrahim Daara doubts whether all the outstanding legal battles will be resolved before the tentative date for the start of the Ghanaian top flight on December 20.

“In my personal opinion, I don’t think we can start the league on December 20,” he told Asempa FM.

“Tema Youth have filed a case at CAS which will take probably at least a month depending on how things go.

“There is also the issue with Techiman City which is unresolved so I doubt if we can start the league at the earlier stated tentative date.”

The situation has left Premier League clubs – most of whom have begun pre-season activities – in a limbo as the start date of the league remains uncertain.