Ghana FA accepts ruling of CAS on Asante Kotoko’s Richmond Lamptey and 20 others

The Ghana Football Association welcomes the ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) that upholds the Appeals filed by players Alex Aso, Richmond Lamptey and 20 other players earlier sanctioned in the AshantiGold SC and Inter Allies FC match manipulation case.

CAS in its Arbitral Award delivered on Thursday, July 27, 2023 and sent to all the parties, stated that the appeals filed by the listed players against the decision issued on July 13, 2022 by the GFA Appeals Committee GFA is upheld.

The Arbitral Award consequently set aside the GFA Appeals Committee decision “ONLY WITH RESPECT TO” the 1st Applicants and 2nd Applicant (that is the players who appealed the case) thereby annulling the sanctions imposed on the said players.

The full list of the 22 players who appealed the decision are:

Alex Aso
Richmond Lamptey
Felix Abuska
Mohammed Zakari
Saibu Taufiq
Fard Ibrahim
Richard Acquaah
Eric Esso
Amos Kofi Nkrumah
Stephen Owusu Banahene
Kwame Moses
Empem Dacosta
Frank Akoto
Isaac Opoku Agyemang
Solomon Afriyie
Mohammed Bailou
Emmanuel Owusu
Samed Mohammed
Paul Asare de Vries
Amos Addai
Abdul Kadir Mohammed
Isah Ali
The GFA was also ordered to contribute CHF300 each to the 21 players (1st Applicants) and CHF3,000 to Richmond Lamptey (2nd Applicant) as part of the legal fees and other expenses in connection to the CAS proceedings.

Under Decision 8 of the Arbitral Award, CAS dismissed “all other and further claims or prayers for reliefs” filed by the players.

It would be recalled that the GFA has already allowed the players to participate fully in the 2022/23 football season following the grant of a provisional measure (STAY) by the CAS in fully assisting the players to register for clubs of their choosing.

The GFA welcomes the CAS Arbitral Award and will comply fully with the decision in relation the 22 players accordingly.

CAS is the worldwide supreme body for sports-related disputes and is fully recognised by FIFA under Article 56 of the FIFA Statutes and the GFA as well under the 2019 GFA Statutes. The GFA has always urged members and participants of the game to use the processes laid down by the Statutes and the GFA is amenable to comply with all such decisions fully.

GFA COMMUNICATIONS