The Chairman of the Ghana League Clubs Association (GHALCA), Kudjo Fianoo says all eight clubs participating in the novelty G8 competition next year will sign commitment contracts ahead of the competition.
The maiden edition of the G8 competition is an innovation by the current GHALCA executive body to expand the annual off season top four tournament to include the three newly promoted clubs from Division One as well as the winner of the MTN FA Cup competition.
The new G8 format will pitch the top four teams in the league with the new entrants as well as the FA Cup winners into groups of two comprising the Northern Zone and the Southern zone.
Teams that have qualified to play in the competition next year are Aduana Stars, West Africa Football Academy (WAFA), Hearts of Oak, Ebusua Dwarfs (top four teams), Asante Kotoko (MTN FA Cup champion). Dreams FC, Karela United and Techiman Eleven Wonderers are the newly promoted clubs.
In two groups of four teams each, the Northern zone (Group A) would include premier league champions Aduana Stars, Asante Kotoko, Dreams FC and Eleven Wonderers, who will play at the Kumasi Baba Yara Sports Stadium. The Southern zone (Group B) also has WAFA, Hearts Of Oak, Ebusua Dwarfs and Karela United, playing at the Cape Coast Stadium.
Mr Kudjoe Fianoo explained in an interview with the GNA Sports that, since this was to help clubs prepare for the season ahead, GHALCA decided to divide the clubs according to their geographical location to avoid burdening the clubs with long distance travels coupled with the huge financial constraints that comes with it.
“This is an off season programme and we want the clubs to be comfortable, that means they shouldn’t travel too far to play the matches,” Mr Fianoo explained.
Mr Fianoo noted, they have met with all the 8 clubs and they have all expressed their satisfaction with the arrangements for the competition so far, adding that, all the clubs will sign a contractual agreement to show their commitment to making the competition competitive.
“All the clubs have agreed and they have committed themselves to play in the competition. They have also committed to use their Class A players and not the reserve sides. They have also promised to give Ghanaians a good competition.
Aduana and Kotoko are using this as a training programme for their Africa campaign next season. We will be meeting again with the clubs where they will have to sign to the administrative instructions, as well as players that could be eligible to play in the competition.”
This year’s completion has no title sponsor yet but with an increase in sponsorship between GHALCA and Star Times Ghana from GHȼ100,000.00 to $100,000, clubs are expected to earn a much significant amount than the previous editions.
Source:GNA
