The newly-constituted Appeals Committee hearing the protracted Tema Youth-Dreams FC dispute is set to rule on the case in the coming days in line with an earlier directive by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
According to Graphic Sports investigations, the 10-man committee chaired by a senior lawyer, Cosmos Apengnou, invited the main protagonist in the case, Tema Youth, for hearing this week and accordingly served Dreams FC a copy of the letter.
With the stage set for the climax of the landmark case, opinions are divided over the likely outcome and the repercussions they could have on the next Premier League season scheduled to commence on December 18.
A grapevine source told this paper yesterday that the outcome of the case is obvious and therefore did not expect the Appeals Committee to have any difficulty with its ruling.
“The FA has no choice than to ensure justice and the international community is watching us,” it said.
It said if the facts of the case are anything to go by, then Tema Youth would likely play in the Premiership next season following what it described as a fraudulent act perpetrated by Dreams FC in the registration of the player who is at the centre of the drama.
“What Dreams FC did amounted to fraud after changing the name of the player whom they acquired from Amidaus and also reduced his age,” the source explained.
It said the player who was transferred to Dreams FC as Danial Gorza was rechristened Cudjoe Mensah with a different date of birth.
The source stressed that in the likely event of Tema Youth winning, it was mandatory for Dreams FC to be demoted to Division Two in accordance with the GFA Regulations.
“The Appeals Committee has to file a copy of its ruling to CAS so justice will prevail,” it stated.
If that happens, Tema Youth would earn an automatic qualification to the Premier League, leaving a vacuum in Zone Three of the Division One League (DOL) to be filled.
According to the source, when that need arises Real Athletico, which had to suffer demotion to Division Two last season as a result of the case, would also earn an automatic qualification to the Division One League.
With that background, the source doubted if Dreams FC could survive both the Appeals and Review stages, except to resort to the law court for redress.
Meanwhile, the Executive Chairman of Dreams FC, Kurt, E. S. Okraku, has threatened to drag the matter to the Supreme Court if the need arose since the club had no case with Tema Youth.
Speaking to the Graphic Sports yesterday, the Dreams FC boss said they had resolved not to be a part of any illegality since Tema Youth lost the case at the Disciplinary, Appeals and Review committees of the GFA.
“We won’t be part of any illegality between the FA and Tema Youth. Tema Youth had a case with Dreams FC which they brought before the GFA Diciplinary Committee, Appeals Committee and Review and lost.
“Tema Youth had 21 days to take Dreams to CAS after losing at the Review but they failed to to do so,” he noted.
“Dreams FC is a law-abiding club so we followed the FA’s judicial process and won the case.”
He said as far as Dreams FC were concerned, it was the GFA which Tema Youth sent to CAS and therefore could not fathom how Dreams FC could be a party to that.
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