The Administrative Manager of the Ghana League Clubs Association (GHALCA), Oduro Nyarko, has justified the decision to hand Bibiani GoldStars the Top Four trophy over Accra Hearts of Oak, even though both clubs finished level on points.
Explaining the rationale on Luv FM, Mr. Nyarko stressed that the tournament’s format was aligned with the Ghana Premier League’s tiebreaking rules, which give priority to head-to-head results instead of goal difference when teams are tied.
Explaining the rationale on Luv FM, Mr. Nyarko stressed that the tournament’s format was aligned with the Ghana Premier League’s tiebreaking rules, which give priority to head-to-head results instead of goal difference when teams are tied.
“Currently, that is the situation in the GFA.
“If two teams tie on points at the end of the league, they will not use goals. They will use head-to-head,” he clarified.
The competition’s rules also ensured that drawn matches were decided through penalty shootouts.
In such cases, the winner earned an additional point on top of the one gained in regulation time, while the losing side still received a point for their efforts.
According to Nyarko, this approach is part of lessons learned from the past and reflects a conscious shift to discourage manipulation of results through inflated scorelines.
“We are learning from our past mistakes. And so, the GFA wanted us to shift from that practise and go to the head-to-head,” he explained.
“Rather than adopt the goal system where we abuse it. You know, this goal system is used in Europe, but we have a different mindset here in Ghana.”
