The Ghana Football Association has announced that is looking into the Ghana Premier League Week 34 tie between AshGold and Inter Allies at the Len Clay Stadium over claims of betting and match-fixing.
The FA’s action is in response to news stories reportedly quoting Inter Allies player, Hashmin Musah, and how he scored two own goals in the match that Allies lost 7-0 to apparently make nonsense of a wager that had been placed.
On Monday, July 19, Musah granted an interview to Kumasi-based Kumasi FM and said that he deliberately chose to score two own goals in the match because of what he had allegedly uncovered before the match.
“I heard it in our hotel that there was a correct scoreline of 5 goals to 1 against my club Inter Allies. I decided to ruin that bet because I don’t condone betting.
After the game, my technical team commended me for spoiling the bet they had staked.
“I promised my coach that if he allowed me to play from the bench, I would ruin the bet and after the game, my team congratulated me.”
The Ghana FA said in a statement that its Compliance & Integrity Officer and the GFA Prosecutors and the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service would handle the matter and the two clubs involved would also be required to give their statements on the issue.
Below is the full statement:
The Ghana Football Association (GFA) wishes to inform all its members and the public that the Association has opened investigations into the Ghana Premier League Match-day 34 game played between Ashanti Gold SC and Inter Allies FC at the Len Clay stadium at Obuasi on Saturday, July 17, 2021. The GFA has resolved that:
1. The Compliance & Integrity Officer and the GFA Prosecutors will lead the “sporting” investigations by the GFA, and
2. The Association will further lodge a complaint on the match with the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service and the Ghana wing of Interpol for the criminal investigation of the game.
The Association will immediately require statements from the two clubs and the players and the technical team members of the two clubs.
The GFA further urges any member of the public, the media, players, technical team members to also send any evidence or information whatsoever connected to the match (a statement, video, audio etc) to assist the investigations through the GFA integrity Hotline and email.
GFA INTEGRITY HOTLINE As provided for in the GFA Statutes and emphasised during all the training the GFA gave to clubs and match officials before the start of the league, one of the core objectives of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) is the commitment to promote the integrity of football in Ghana.
The GFA is committed to investigate all reports of match manipulation(s) and bring the culprits before the Ethics Committee of the Association. The GFA is also committed to report to and assist the Ghana Police Service all such cases of match manipulations which violates the criminal laws of Ghana for prosecution.
GFA INTEGRITY HOTLINE GFA Compliance & Integrity Office Hotline: 059 337 1735 WhatsApp: 059 337 1735 Email- integrity@ghanafa.org
