Ghana Premier League to become autonomous

Ghana’s Premier League will soon join the league of independent club competitions around the world, as the Ghana Football Association takes steps to give it autonomy.

The league is currently run by the Premier League Committee of the FA, which replaced the Premier League Board (PLB) last year.

The 18-club league competition is managed by the Premier League Committee, chaired by Lepowura Alhaji M.N.D Jawula, with day-to-day administrative support from the Competitions Department of the GFA.

But a statement issued by the Ghana Football Association says “the Executive Council of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) has taken a decision to make the Ghana Premier League autonomous.”

At its meeting on May 5, 2020, the Executive Council of the country’s football regulatory body decided to form a five-member committee to advise the GFA on how to proceed with the implementation of the policy.

“The Premier League Autonomy Committee will be made up of three persons nominated by the 18-Premier League Clubs with the other two to be added by GFA.

This special task committee will advise the GFA on the autonomy of the league, the format, the modalities, start date and rulebook, among other parameters.

The statement said the GFA would soon name the five-member Committee to steer the affairs of the league.

Ghana’s League is almost a century old, having kicked off in 1922 with Accra Hearts of Ok winning the first laurel— the coveted Guggisberg shield – named after the then  British Governor of the Gold Coast, Sir Gordon Guggisberg, the man who started the Accra Football League. 

However, it was not until 1959, that the late Ohene Gyan organised the first national league before Ghana became a republic on  July 1, 1960.

But the country’s club football joined its peers in the professional ranks in 1993 after “The 1993 Winneba Declaration”, which allowed football clubs to be incorporated under the company’s code (Act 179, 1963) as Limited Liability Companies.