Ghana Premier League side, Ashantigold Sporting Club, has been demoted to Division Two, Ghana’s 3rd tier league, after being found guilty of match manipulation.
The four-time Ghana Premier League champions were under investigation for alleged involvement in a match-fixing back in July 2021.
The Obuasi-based team during their last fixture of the 2020/2021 season beat Inter Allies by 7-0.
An Allies player, Hashmin Musah, scored two own goals and later admitted his action was to spoil a bet placed on the said game.
The defender confessed to the media that he intentionally score the own goal – which went viral on social media in a move to ruin what he believed was a pre-arranged result for betting reasons.
Dr. Kwaku Frimpong, President of Ashgold has been handed a GHC100,000 fine by the G.F.AThe Disciplinary Committee of the GFA also handed the club’s President, Dr. Kwaku Frimpong, and his son, Emmanuel Frimpong, who is the club’s Chief Executive Officer, a ban from football activities for 10 years and 8 years respectively.
Eight players of the club have also been banned for two years each after being found guilty of match manipulation, while a further five players have also been handed four-year bans for failure to appear before the GFA’s Disciplinary Committee.
In addition, the club has been fined an amount of Ghs 100,000, the President fined Ghs 100,000, and the CEO was fined Ghs 50,000.
The decision will take effect from the 2022/2023 season.
On 17th July 2021, Ashantigold SC played Inter Allies FC in the 2020/21 Ghana
Premier League Matchday 34 game at the Obuasi Len Clay Stadium.
The match eventually ended in 7 goals to 0 against Inter Allies FC.
After the match, there were several reports within the local and international football space that the match was fixed to fulfill a correct score of 5 goals to 1 in favor of Ashantigold SC.
A video extract of the match circulated on various social media platforms showing a player of Inter Allies FC scoring two own goals and also showed a lackluster attitude of players on the field of play.
Sportradar, a Swiss-based international company‟s fraud detection system, a unique service that identifies betting-related manipulation in sports globally for a number of leagues through its vast amounts of data, reported that there were strong pre-match betting and telltale signs of fraud on the said match.
The GFA Compliance & Integrity Office together with the GFA Prosecutors
investigated the matter and in accordance with Article 34(5) of the GFA Premier
League Regulations preferred charges against the two clubs and referred
Ashantigold SC to the Disciplinary Committee.
The Committee concluded its work and released its report on Monday, May 16th, 2022. Read the full report here.
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