Posted by The Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) has granted 22 players who were suspended by the Ghana Football Association (GFA) a stay of execution for their involvement in match fixing in a game involving AshantiGold and Inter Allies.
A total of 26 players were slapped with respective bans by the Disciplinary Committee (DC) of GFA after they were found guilty of match manipulation in the final game of the 2020/21 season which ended 7-0 in favor of AshantiGold.
Following the ban, the Professional Football Association of Ghana (PFAG) filed an appeal to CAS through the International Federation of Professional Footballers (FIFPro) to overturn the decision on behalf of 21 players.
Another appeal was filed by Asante Kotoko on behalf of their midfielder Richimond Lamptey.
The appeals succeeded as CAS temporary lifted the ban on the players. Thus, the players can now proceed to register for the upcoming season pending the final determination of the respective appeals filed by FIFPro and Asante Kotoko.
The players granted a stay of execution include; Alex Aso, Felix Abuska, Mohammed Zakari, Shaibu Taufiq, Fard Ibrahim, Richard Acquaah, Eric Esso, Amos Kofi Nkrumah, Stephen Owusu Banahene, Kwame Moses, Empem Dacosta, Frank Akoto.
Others are Isaac Opoku Agyemang, Solomon Afriyie, Mohammed Bailou, Emmanuel Owusu, Samed Mohammed, Paul Asare de Vries, Amos Addai, Abdul Kadir Mohammed, Isah Ali and Richmond Lamptey.
For four other players, the ban imposed on them is still effective, they include: Hashmin Musah who saw his ban reduced from 24 months to 6 months for being the whistle blower, Seth Osei who was slapped with a 30-month ban.
Danso Wiredu Mensah who’s currently a military personnel in the United States of America (USA) and Nigerian forward Andy Opke.