TLDR
- The Ghana FA has banned betting companies from offering odds on domestic league matches
- The move aims to stop match-fixing ahead of the new season
- GFA president Kurt Okraku says no betting company holds a license for local odds
- The 2026-27 Ghana Premier League season starts between September 4 and 7
- The ban follows past scandals, including a 2021 fixed match and a 2018 bribery scandal
The Ghana Football Association has banned betting companies from offering odds on matches in its domestic leagues. The move is meant to stop match-fixing before it starts.
GFA president Kurt Okraku announced the decision at the association’s 32nd congress. He said the step was needed to protect the fairness of games in the Ghana Premier League.
Okraku made the rule clear during his speech. He said no betting company has been given a license to place odds on domestic league games.
He also said the GFA is working with security companies. The goal is to improve monitoring and catch any fixing attempts early.
The timing lines up with the start of a new season. The 2026-27 Ghana Premier League season begins between September 4 and 7.
The season will run until the last weekend of May 2027. Clubs and fans now know betting odds will not be tied to any of those matches.
New Prize Money for Clubs
At the same congress, the GFA announced new prize money for the league. The 2025/26 champions will receive GHS 2 million, a record amount for the league.
The runners-up will take home GHS 1 million. Third place will earn GHS 800,000, while fourth place will receive GHS 750,000.
These numbers show the league trying to grow its financial rewards. The betting ban and the new prize structure were both revealed at the same event.
A History of Match-Fixing Scandals
This is not the first time Ghanaian football has dealt with fixing problems. One of the most well-known cases happened in 2021 between Ashanti Gold and Inter Allies.
Ashanti Gold won that match 7-0 on the final day of the season. Inter Allies defender Hashmin Musah later admitted he scored two own goals as part of a betting plot tied to the final score.
The GFA responded by demoting both clubs to Division Two. Several players, coaches, and officials involved received long bans from the sport.
Football in Ghana also faced a bigger scandal in 2018. Investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas released an undercover documentary called “When Greed and Corruption Become the Norm.”
The film showed officials across the GFA taking cash bribes on camera. Then-GFA president Kwesi Nyantakyi resigned after being filmed accepting money and offering influence over sponsorships and match results.
The government tried to dissolve the GFA after the scandal became public. FIFA warned against this kind of state interference in football matters.
A normalization committee was put in place instead. Its job was to stabilize the sport and rebuild trust in the system.
The new betting ban is part of a wider effort by the GFA to avoid repeating those past problems. The rule takes effect as the new season approaches in September.
