There’ll be loss of sponsorship revenue if league is cancelled – GFA boss Kurt Okraku

Ghana Football Association (GFA) President Kurt Okraku has indicated that there will be a loss of sponsorship revenue to clubs if the 2019/20 league season is cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Ghana Premier League and other competitions organised by the GFA have been on suspension since March, when the disease began spreading in the country.

Since the suspension, the coronavirus cases continue to increase and there have been calls by a section of the public for the league to be cancelled.

They want the GFA to take a cue from African countries such as Cameroon, Angola, Burkina Faso, Congo Brazzaville, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Mauritius and Niger.

The GFA is expected to come out with a decision on June 30.

“As we speak, there’s no decision as to whether the Ghana Premier League would be cancelled or not,” he told Ghanafa.org

We are still in talks. If we are to cancel the league, it will be another trying period for players, clubs, referees and everybody involved in football.”

“A cancellation will almost certainly mean a loss of sponsorship revenue to clubs. I don’t have the exact figures as to how much revenue clubs will lose if the league is cancelled.

But you don’t expect sponsors to continue sponsoring when there are no football activities,” he added.

The league has two category sponsors. NASCO takes care of the Man of the Match, Player of the Match and Coach of the Month awards schemes while StarTimes snapped up the broadcast rights.