Ghana Premier League side, AshantiGold SC are heading to the Court of Arbitration for Sports [CAS] following their demotion to Division Two.
The Miners were slapped with the demotion after the Disciplinary Committee of the Ghana Football Association [GFA] found the club guilty of match manipulation against Inter Allies.
In the matchday 34 games against Inter Allies, Ashgold recorded a 7-0 win over Allies with Hashmin Musah scoring two own goals.
After the game, Musah in an interview revealed that he deliberately scored the two goals to ruin a bet placed in the game. The ruling takes effect from the 2023/2022 season.
According to AshGold's communications team member, Nana Kyei Manu, the club is stunned by the ruling after they denied all allegations during the interrogatory period.
“We denied all allegations of match-fixing when we appeared before the Disciplinary Committee so we were shocked by the ruling,” he The Times Sports as quoted by GTonline.com.
He further hinted that the club will challenge the decision at the Appeals Committee before taking matters to Court for Arbitration for Sports if necessary.
“We would possibly go to the Appeals Committee and perhaps the Court for Arbitration for Sports (CAS) in our bid to challenge the decision and stay in the elite competition. But that would be based on directives from our lawyers,” he added.
“I am sure by the end of the month, the lawyers would have studied the ruling and make the right decision on what step to take,” he concluded.
Ashanti Gold, as well as Inter Allies, have both been demoted to the country's third-tier league after being found guilty of match-fixing
Additionally, the club's bankroller, Kwaku Frimpong, and the Chief Executive Officer, Emmanuel Frimpong have been banned for 10 and 8 years respectively. A fine of GH₵1000,000 and GH₵ 50,000 has also been respectively imposed on them.
8 AshGold players, including Stephen Owusu Banahene, Ampem Dacosta, Frank Akoto, and Isaac Opoku Agyemang. The rest are Amos Kofi Nkrumah, Eric Esso, Moses Kwame, and Solomon Afriyie were handed a 2-year (24 months) ban each.
Two players, Samed Mohammed and Seth Osei were handed 2-and-a-half years (30 months) ban each.
Whereas, Emmanuel Owusu, Mohammed Bailou, Amos Addai and Paul Asare De Vries, and Sporting Director Nana Kwesi Darling were handed a 4-year ban each for the roles they played.