Premier League set to resume on September 19

Accra, September 9, GNA - The National Premier League is set to resume on September 19, after almost three months of postponement by the Professional League Board (PLB).

The league was postponed in mid June to enable the National Under-23 team, the Black Meteors and the Black Stars prepare adequately for their respective national assignments.

According to the new calendar released by the PLB copied to the GNA Sports, after its meeting last Tuesday, the League is expected to witness series of mid-week matches in a bid to ensure its early completion.

It would be recalled that, this year's league has been subjected to series of changes following numerous court cases at the door steps of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) which saw a delay in the commencement of the league.

The PLB in a bid to complete the league in due time, opted for a zonal league system at the beginning of the season following the delay but that also had to be put it on hold again due to national assignments.

In view of this, the new PLB calendar has made provisions for the National Under-21 team, the Black Satellites qualifier against Cote d' Ivoire on October 3 for the Africa Youth Tournament.

The calendar also made room for the World Cup qualifying match of the Black Stars against DR Congo on October 10 and the National Under-17 team, the Black Starlets' game against Tunisia in November for the Africa edition of the Under-17 competition.

Other provisions made in the calendar include the possible advancement of Hearts and Kotoko to the finals of the Confederation Cup Competition as well as some outstanding matches to be played by the clubs during their campaign in the continental competition.

The novelty league is however expected to end on November 28, provided Ghana's representatives in the continental competition fail to advance to the finals of the Confederations Cup.

On the other hand, should any of the clubs qualify for the finals then the League will come to a close on December 6 after which play-offs will be held to determine the overall champions.

Following these circumstances, the PLB reviewed its decision to determine the overall champions of the league on a two leg basis which will see the winner of group A taking on group B while their runners up will also face each other to determine the third and fourth placed teams.

The winners of each zone as well as the runners up will engage in a straight fight at a neutral ground to determine the first, second, third and fourth placed teams in the league.

The seventh placed team from each group will also engage each other in search of the team to be relegated to the Division One League. The GFA is expected to make a declaration of its champions to CAF by Monday December 6.