Ghana Football : The Ghana Football Association would not be able to be increase its points on the CAF 5-Year Ranking for the fourth year running if Hearts of Oak fail to reach the group stage of the CAF Confederation Cup.
The 5-year ranking is a system used by CAF to determine the number of clubs each member association is eligible is enter in African club competitions.
Ghana is currently ranked at joint – position number 24 with just 2.5 points on the ranking system used by CAF for the 2022/23 CAF Champions League and CAF Confederation Cup.
Teams can start fetching ranking points only when they reach the Group Stages.
As Asante Kotoko were eliminated by RC Kadiogo of Burkina Faso in the Preliminary Round of the Champions League , the Porcupine Warriors failed to earn further points for Ghana and now the only hope of the GFA, as little as it may , resides in Hearts of Oak.
The Phobians were battered by AS Real Bamako of Mali by 3-0 in Bamako last Saturday. Hearts of Oak who went into the first leg match without a substantive head coach need to produce one of the greatest African comebacks to reach the Play-Off Round.
Even should the MTN FA Cup holders be able to eliminate AS Real , the bigger challenge will be the Group Stages of the Confederation Cup. That is the only way the GFA can build on its paltry two points.
Ghana Football : Clubs Keep Struggling in Africa
In the 2019/20 season , Ghana was represented in Africa by Asante Kotoko and Ashantigold but none of them could make the group stages.
In the next season the Porcupine Warriors were the only Ghanaian side that played in Africa and once again they failed to play the group stages of both Champions League and Confederation Cup.
The 2021/22 season was the turn of Hearts of Oak to achieve the holy grail. After edging out CI Kamsar of Guinea in one-off match played in Accra , WAC proved too strong for the Phobians in the Play-off Round , hammering them 6-2 on aggregate to kick them out from the Champions League.
The team coached by Samuel Boadu dropped to the Confederation Cup Play-Off Round and the story was the same ; JS Saoura of Algeria advanced to the group stage at the expense of the Phobians.
Indeed the last times Ghanaian teams played at the group stage level in any African competition date back to the 2018 and 2018/19 seasons ; relating to Aduana Stars and Asante Kotoko respectively.
Do you think Hearts of Oak can eliminate AS Real Bamako ?
Send us your stories and breaking news to editor@ghanasportsmarket.com and via WhatsApp on +233 24 024 09 52.
