GFA condemns inhospitality of Congolese

The Ghana Football Association (GFA) has strongly condemned the treatment meted out to the contingent of players and officials of Kumasi Asante Kotoko who arrived in Brazzaville, Congo,

for the second leg of their African Cup Winners Cup against a Congolese side, A. S. Police.

According to the FA, the behaviour of the Congolese soon after Kotoko’s arrival in Brazzaville confirmed an earlier threat issued by the coach of A. S. Police after the first leg in Kumasi that Kotoko would be maltreated on their arrival in Congo for the return leg encounter.

In a protest letter sent to both CAF and the Congolese Football Association, the General Secretary, Mr Kofi Nsiah, noted that the situation is not only embarrassing and frustrating, but also uncouth in the fair play culture of football.

He noted that at the time of sending the protest, no Congolese FA official had visited the Ghanaian team, adding that it is the hope of the FA that CAF would address the issues that have been raised. According to Mr Nsiah, the Congolese FA failed to inform its Ghanaian counterpart of the date, venue, kick-off time and other relevant information pertaining to the match despite repeated demands for such details.

He said Kotoko were unjustifiably delayed at the Brazzaville airport for five hours, while the passports of the contingent were also seized for about two hours. Mr Nsiah noted that apart from housing the team in a sub-standard hotel, the official car allocated to the officials was not suitable.

He added that the contingent were ejected from the bus that was provided for them after they had packed their baggage into it at the airport for the driver to send the A. S. Police team to training before coming to pick them from the airport.