The chairman for the Ghana Football Leagues Club Association (GHALCA), Kudjoe Fianoo has explained the rationale behind the decision to select Asante Kotoko and Ivorian giants, Asec Mimosas for this year’s President’s Cup competition.
Kotoko and the Ivorian giants will battle it out for the 2024 President’s Cup trophy on Tuesday, March 5, 2024 just a day before Ghana’s 67th Independence Day celebration.
The game will be hosted at the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi, with both head of states, Nana Akufo-Addo and Alassane Ouattara expected to attend the event.
Explaining why GHALCA settled on both clubs in an exclusive interview on Wamputu Sports with George Mahamah ‘Alan Green’, he said, “Ghanaians in recent times have been raising concerns about our frequent use of Hearts of Oak and Asante Kotoko in playing the President cup. In view of that, we decided to use a different team this time. People also think Kotoko and Hearts of Oak are as cash cow, in the previous edition we played free gate meaning the enthusiasm is not there anymore”.
“We want to alter our style of running the President Cup. Obviously, some of our plans were ambitious. Some may think we are overambitious. We have plans of sitting down with any President at the helm and know the team they support, so we can organize the Cup competition on the club of their choice.
“In the case of Nana Akufo-Addo, we’ve realized he always invite a special guest (President of another Africa country) during the Independence Day celebration. Last year was Guinea-Bissau’s President. After contacting the Presidency, we got to know Ivory Coast’s leader Alhassan Ouattara will be the special guest for this year’s Independence Day. So we decided to pick the Champions of each country for the President Cup”.
“Asec Mimosas will represent Ivory Coast. Medeama was supposed to represent Ghana but won’t be available at the time because of their CAF Champions League participation, so Asante Kotoko will replace them. For now, we have settled on Kotoko and Asec Mimosas”, he added.
Hearts of Oak are the current holders of the President Cup after beating Asante Kotoko narrowly in the 2023 edition.
Meanwhile, Asante Kotoko are the record holders of the Cup competition, with eight titles under their belt.