Why does the PLB want an 18-team league?

This is going to be an article filled with questions because, to tell you the truth, I am flabbergasted.

I simply do not understand why, out of the blue, the Premier League Board of the Ghana Football Association would go to the extent of writing to the Executive Committee; tabling a motion for an 18-team Premier League.


For starters, why has this come about? What informed the decision of the PLB to write such a letter? Was it a unanimous decision taken by members of the Premier League Board or not? Are there credible reasons why the number of Premier League clubs should be increased from 16 to 18?


I got to know that the PLB has written to the Ex-Co asking for the increase in the number of participating teams on Wednesday morning after being told that Ex-Co member Cudjoe Fianoo had confirmed the news to Accra-based Happy FM and I did some digging.


The results were very interesting and after revealing it all, the questions will start again.


You are all aware that King Faisal is seeking reliefs from the courts of law with regard to a case filed against Aduana Stars at the Disciplinary Committee level.

Indeed, King Faisal is praying the courts to set aside the decisions of the Disciplinary and Appeals Committees, which both threw King Faisal’s petition out.


What is very interesting is that the Ghana League Clubs Association called a meeting that was supposed to have had the 16 Premier League Clubs who competed last season and the three newly promoted clubs in attendance.


At that meeting, virtually all the clubs kicked against the idea of having an 18-team Premier League. Then cracks within the hierarchy of GHALCA began to appear, with some publicly stating what the clubs had decided, and others still championing the cause of having an 18-team league.


The matter was sent to the Emergency Committee of the GFA, which referred it to the Ex-Co. I am reliably informed that the Ex-Co dismissed it out of hand.


I can also state on authority that after so much lobbying, the PLB has now written a letter to the Ex-Co propounding the same idea. What makes it even strange is that there isn’t unanimity of support for this idea within the walls of the PLB.

Indeed, my sources tell me that the letter was not written or signed by PLB boss Welbeck Abra Appiah, but another member of the Board, namely Jones Alhassan Abu. So I ask again, what is going on?


Is it not a strange co-incidence that having an 18-team Premier League would see King Faisal and Dwarfs maintained in the top flight, despite relegation from the top flight at the end of last season? If what is good for the goose is also good for the gander, then why did the PLB not ask for a twenty-team League then, so that Amidaus Professionals, who were also relegated as the bottom club last season, also stay in the top flight?


Why am I getting the feeling that some top officials have been compromised by certain self-seeking individuals; hence the attempt to sell this concept?


Indeed, why would the PLB, of all bodies, be party to such a request, especially when the clubs rejected the idea at GHALCA level in the first place?


I don’t know what the outcome of the court case would be, but I feel that it would be better for the process to run its course so that we know whether King Faisal will be heard by the Disciplinary Committee again or not.

In any case, why can’t clubs fight to gain points on the field of play and why is the system and the regulations being manipulated to suit other people’s selfish desires?


At the end of the season, King Faisal, Dwarfs and Amidaus Professionals were relegated.


Pending the outcome of the court case, that should remain the case and the funny thing is that if this 18-team league idea is ever agreed to, then clubs in relegation throes will do the same thing King Faisal has done and get allies in further expanding the league.


So before you know it, in a few years we have a 30-team league if care is not taken.


In fact, I daresay that if there is a member of the PLB that belongs to either King Faisal or Dwarfs, then that would explain why such a proposal, initially thrown out by the GFA, would resurface again.

I will end by saying that it would be appropriate for the PLB to come out and dissociate itself from the letter, otherwise, the credibility of the PLB could very well be flushed down the toilet.


Let due process take its course, so that football can continue in this country, but an 18-team league is not the answer. It is only a quick-fix solution being suggested by persons with ulterior motives and should such an idea be entertained, it will be a recipe for chaos in our football.