The starvation for football is inches away from over following the official launch of the 2020/2021 football season by the Ghana Football Association (GFA) on Thursday evening.
The 65th Ghana Premier League season and other products of the were officially launched on Thursday, November 5, 2020 in colourful event held in the studio of Ghana Premier League (GPL) Broadcast partner, StarTimes and was televised on StarTimes Adepa Channel 247 and Max TV.
Speaking at the launch, the GFA President, Kurt E. S. Okraku assured stakeholders of the game an end to the long wait for the game, and hoped nation’s passion for the game of football is experienced again as the new season kicks off on November 14.
“We are on the precipice of a new football season. It is a time that many have longed for in the last ten months. I look forward to the familiar feeling of anticipation, anguish, joy, passion and all other emotions that football is known to unearth in all of us”, President Kurt E.S Okraku said in an extracts published by the FA.
To recall, the 2019/2020 football season was inflicted by the world’s greatest enemy at the moment – covid-19, which led to eventual cancellation of the entire season after 15 matches played in the elite division, as well as 13 matches in the second tier division, and Mr Okraku took time to reflect on some statistics of the truncated season.
“It will be recalled that the local league kicked-off on 29th December, 2019 amidst fervent anticipation and support from all stakeholders.
“The GFA recorded a total of 133 games that were played during the Premier league matches; 310 games in the Division One League, 56 games in the Women’s Premier League and 75 games in the FA Cup until the global pandemic abruptly shut down all forms of football and contact sports in Ghana.
“It is no secret that the last football season was truncated because of a virus that proved itself a formidable adversary to the existence of the human race”, President Simeon-Okraku added
According to the framework of the FA’s calendar for the coming season, the National Division One League is expected to kick off on December 3, 2020, while the MTN FA Cup and Women’s Premier League kick off in January 2021.