October 14, 2022
The brief from today:
Ghana Premier League in limbo
Ghana’s top flight, the Ghana Premier League, is currently suspended after only three rounds of matches. The issue stems from a ruling by the Ghana Football Association (GFA) that occurred last year regarding match fixing. In July 2021, as the season was reaching its end, one of the final matches taking place was between already relegated, Inter Allies, and Ashanti Gold—who needed a win to avoid relegation. The match would end 7-0 in favor of Ashanti Gold, but it didn’t take long for many to grow suspicious of the result. Inter Allies player, Hashmin Musah, would score two own goals in the match, and later declare that he did so to ensure a preset result of 5-1 in favor of Ashanti Gold would be avoided. Musah told authorities that there were suspicious betting trends developing for the match, and he was trying to disrupt that. Upon further investigation into the claims, the GFA deemed both teams complicit in match faxing, and would go on to relegate Ashanti Gold to the second division as well. Ashanti Gold president, Dr. Kwaku Frimpong, and his son/club chief executive, Emmanuel Frimpong, were banned for 10 and eight years respectively. In addition to their bans, Dr. Frimpong would incur a $13,000 fine, while his son owed $6500. Players from both clubs, as well staff, would also receive lengthy bans as a result of the alleged widespread participation. Ashanti Gold then decided to appeal the relegation sentencing at the end of last month, which resulted in the Premier League being forced to stop early into the campaign. The Accra Human Rights Court was willing to entertain a thorough hearing, and case, from Ashanti Gold on the matter, and as a result has scheduled the court date for October 20. Due to this development, the GFA had no option but to suspend the league until further notice. The league currently consists of 18 teams, and if Ashanti Gold are victorious in court, then whether the top flight will consist of 19 sides this season, or if another team gets relegated is what remains to be seen.
Kwaku Frimpong (left) and son, Emmanuel, are appealing match fixing allegations against Ashanti Gold
Morocco dispute with Adidas concludes
Last month, Morocco’s culture ministry had some choice words for German sports manufacturer Adidas. The point of contention was the training kit for Morocco’s neighbor, Algeria, and how Adidas used a design which appeared to resemble the Moroccan zellige. The zellige is a common design used on ceramic mosaics in Morocco, and for the Algerian team to be donning apparel displaying something closely linked to Moroccan heritage drew ire from the latter country. The culture ministry saw this as cultural misappropriation, and threatened to escalate things legally unless Adidas halted the circulation of the jersey within two weeks. Today, the two sides disclosed that discussions had taken place, and while Adidas won’t pull the jersey, they did apologize in a statement saying, “The design was inspired indeed by the zellige mosaics pattern, and was at no time intended to offend anyone. We would like to express our deep respect to the people and craftsmen of Morocco and regret the controversy surrounding the case.” The culture ministry appears to be satisfied by the talks, and the statement, which indicates the demand for the jersey to be discontinued was a bit of bluster. In the end, it seems the main need was for the acknowledgement of the origins of the zellige, and for proper credit to be given.
The zellige inspired jerseys worn by Algeria (above) in pre-match drills weren’t appreciated in Morocco