Posted by FIFPRO has welcomed the ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to uphold an Appeal filed by 22 players earlier sanctioned by the Ghana Football Association (GFA) in a match manipulation case between AshantiGold SC and Inter Allies FC.
CAS in its Arbitral Award delivered on Thursday, July 27, 2023 and sent to all the parties, stated that the appeals filed by the 22 players against the decision issued on July 13, 2022 by the GFA Appeals Committee GFA is upheld.
The players 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.
In the ruling, CAS ordered the Ghana FA to pay a global amount of 6,300 Swiss francs (82,089.35 Ghanaian Cedi), to be distributed in equal parts of 300 Swiss francs (3909.02 Ghanaian Cedi) to 21 of the players as contribution towards their legal fees and other expenses incurred in connection with the tribunal proceedings.
CAS also ordered GFA to pay to Mr. Richmond Lamptey the amount of 3,000 Swiss francs (39090.17 Ghanaian Cedi) as contribution towards his legal fees and other expenses incurred in connection with these arbitration proceedings.
Reacting to the verdict from CAS, FIFPRO in a statement said: “FIFPRO welcomes the decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport to uphold an appeal by 22 players in Ghana against match-fixing bans. FIFPRO and the Professional Footballers Association of Ghana (FAG) represented the players.
“The 22 players, who were involved in a Ghana Premier League game between Ashantigold SC and Inter Allies FC, did not have a proper due process in disciplinary proceedings brought by the Ghana Football Association and were banned based on third-party reports, conjecture and without any evidence on their individual involvement.
“The case underlines how it remains critical football authorities rely exclusively on proper evidence when ruling on match-fixing cases; otherwise, players will continue to be unfairly convicted of match-fixing, an offence that carries significant and long-standing reputational damage,” the statement ended.
