The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has annulled all sanctions imposed on the players of Ashanti Gold and Inter Allies over alleged match manipulation two years ago.
A statement from the international adjudicatory body also ordered the Ghana Football Association (GFA) to pay each player CHF300.
The money, CAS said, was to help cover the legal fees and other expenses incurred by the players in trying to clear their names.
“The Ghana Football Association is ordered to pay to Messrs. 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, Isaac Opoku Agyemang, Solomon Afriyie, Mohammed Bailou, Emmanuel Owuso, Samed Mohammed, Paul Asare de Vries, Amos Addai, Abdul Kadir Mohammed and Isah Ali a global amount of CHF 6,300 (six thousand three hundred Swiss francs), to be distributed amongst them in equal parts of CHF 300 (three hundred Swiss francs) each as contribution towards their legal fees and other expenses incurred in connection with these arbitration proceedings,” a statement from CAS said.
“The Ghana Football Association is ordered to pay to Mr. Richmond Lamptey the amount of CHF 3,000 (three thousand Swiss francs) as contribution towards his legal fees and other expenses incurred in connection with these arbitration proceedings.”
It will be recalled that in May, the Disciplinary Committee of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) ruled that the high-scoring matchday 34 game between the Ashanti Gold and Inter Allies during the 2020/21 season was fixed.
This followed Ashanti Gold’s emphatic 7-0 win over Allies at the Len Clay Stadium on the final day of that campaign.
Video highlights of the match added fuel to the suspicions of most fans after the away side’s Hashmin Musah deliberately scored two own goals in the game.
The Disciplinary Committee of the GFA subsequently found both teams guilty of match manipulation and demoted them to the Division Two League.
Several players from both teams, who were involved in the game in question, were also banned from all football-related activities for between six and 24 months.
Both teams appealed their demotions but, in July last year, the Appeals Committee of the GFA dismissed their appeal cases.
The Professional Football Association of Ghana (PFAG) subsequently decided to file an appeal at CAS through the International Federation of Professional Footballers (FIFPro) to overturn the ban slapped on the players.
In August 2022, CAS granted a stay, which allowed all 21 players whose bans were appealed to get registered for the 2022/23 season, until the substantive case was heard.
The Lausanne-based court has now overturned all sanctions brought against the players.
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