In 2019, Alex Aso signed his first professional contract with Inter Allies in the Ghanaian Premier League. Two years later, the right winger had established himself in the team and was playing regularly, despite being one of the youngest players in the squad. The team, however, had a poor run of form in the 2020–21 season and was relegated with games to go.
In their final match of the campaign, Inter Allies were beaten 7-0 by Ashanti Gold, and the result prompted the Ghana Football Association (GFA) to launch an investigation into match-fixing. In May 2022, the GFA suspended all 28 players involved in the match for periods between two and four years. Aso was one of them and received a 24-month ban.
A week after the match, we were informed that all the players and officials had been placed under investigation. We then heard nothing for a while before I saw on social media that virtually all the players had received long suspensions, and I was one of them.
I felt like I couldn`t go see my family because I was too embarrassed, so I stayed with one of my close friends at Ideal College in Accra. General football player training What made things worse, if that was possible, was that I had no other skills than playing football. I have been playing football all my life.
At that time, I had really given up on my football career because I thought there was no coming back. One of my teammates then told me that he had given my telephone number to the Professional Footballers Association of Ghana (PFAG), and they said they would try to help us.
The first thing they did was ask CAS to temporarily lift the suspension and allow us to play. They said that we would suffer irreparable harm if we remained suspended while our appeal was being heard.
They said that if we could not train or play during this time, our careers would be badly affected. We told CAS that if we were unable to work for a substantial period of time, it would affect our livelihood, as for most of us, football was our primary source of income. A football career is very short, so to lose several months is a very long time. In August 2022, CAS said that we could play football again while our appeal to CAS was being heard.
They said GFA was wrong to suspend us. Knowing that I can continue my career in the field is the happiest moment I have ever experienced. All I want is to know that I can play without any restrictions. Before the second decision, I always played knowing that it could end at any moment.
Without the union’s support, sacrifice, and time, most of the players involved in this issue would probably have given up on their careers. I was able to resume my career and signed first for Legon Cities, and this season I am with Bibiani Gold Stars.
