Asante Kotoko's hope of seeing their fans at the stadium ahead of teh second leg tie against FC Nouadhibou has been rejected by the government of Ghana.
Kotoko wrote to the government to allow 20,000 fans for their Caf Champions League preliminary round game this weekend at the Accra Sports Stadium.
However, upon several deliberations between the government’s COVID-19 Task Force team, the plea from Kotoko was rejected.
Government’s stance remain resolute that there won’t be compromises towards the imposed restrictions to curb the spread of the virus.
“Our engagement with the COVID Taskforce team revealed that they aren’t ready to take things for granted," Communications Director of the club, Moses Antwi Benefo told Kumasi based Silva FM.
"They insist we continue to play our matches behind closed doors. so we have agreed.
“It would have been wonderful with the fans, the excitement and the buzz. The presence of supporters cheering the boys would have buoyed the players to perform above themselves.
“But human lives matter so we have agreed to play behind closed doors,” he concluded.
Kotoko fought hard to end the first game in Mauritania 1-1 last weekend.