Aduana Stars striker, Yahaya Mohammed, says the Ghana Football Association’s (GFA) decision to restrict fans from watching games at the various venues due to the surge in COVID-19 cases will affect the finances of most clubs.
The GFA Executive Council decided last Friday that all football games will be played behind closed doors for the next four weeks except for Asante Kotoko’s CAF Confederation Cup.
A statement from the GFA on the ban stated, “The Executive Council of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) has decided to restrict fan patronage at all football games for the next four weeks. This directive is with immediate effect, beginning from Saturday, February 13, 2021.
“This according to the Executive Council, will afford the GFA enough time to put in place remedial measures to make the various stadia safe for fans and consumers of football in our bid to help the government in the fight against the pandemic. As a result, the GFA intends to use the four-week period to strategize and re-engage before opening up the various centres to the public. Clubs are encouraged to use the period to train stewards who will be directly responsible for fan conduct in our quest to observe the social distancing protocol”.
According to Yahaya Mohammed, club administrators and team owners will be the most affected during this period as the team’s expenditure will increase due to the lack of gate proceeds as games will be played without the fans.
“It’s a big blow that we have to play behind closed doors. The problem is the club owners who have to incur a lot of costs because there are no gate proceeds now”, he told Joe Debrah on Happy Weekend Sports on Happy 98.9FM.
“I will advise the supporters to adhere to the COVID-19 protocols when the stadium is opened again”, he added.
