February 28
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DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH<br />
Sports<br />
DAILY HERITAGE<br />
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY <strong>28</strong>, 2018<br />
•Aduana Stars, last season’s<br />
Premier League champions<br />
Who is who?<br />
BY ANNETTE S. YEBOAH<br />
THE MUCH anticipated<br />
2017/2018<br />
Ghana Premier<br />
League season is expected<br />
to commence<br />
at all eight league centres<br />
across the country this weekend<br />
with Aduana Stars opening their<br />
title defence against Liberty Professionals<br />
at the Nana Agyemang Badu<br />
Park in the Brong Ahafo Region.<br />
Aduana, like the remaining 15<br />
participating clubs, are putting<br />
themselves in shape to whip up enthusiasm<br />
for their supporting fans<br />
by way of making a winning start to<br />
the new season.<br />
Football pundits have expressed<br />
mixed reactions as to whether<br />
reigning champions Aduana Stars<br />
still has the magic power to retain<br />
the title they are about to defend,<br />
especially with their busy CAF<br />
Champions League assignment.<br />
Discussions are also centered on<br />
which three clubs among the 16<br />
participating teams would be relegated<br />
at the end of the season, and,<br />
whether Asante Kotoko and Accra<br />
• As Ghana Premier League<br />
takes off on Sunday<br />
•Dreams FC, a strong contender for this<br />
season’s Premier League<br />
Hearts of Oak are still to be considered<br />
as title contenders.<br />
Beginning on Sunday, Asante<br />
Kotoko will travel to Sogakope in<br />
the Volta Region to face West<br />
Africa Football Academy (WAFA)<br />
on Artificial Turf. Kotoko, after<br />
sacking Coach Steven Pollack appointed<br />
former Black Starlets<br />
trainer Paa Kwesi Fabin and he is<br />
expected to make a flying start at<br />
Sogokope, a fortress ground for<br />
WAFA.<br />
The Porcupine Warriors could<br />
not recover from the accident they<br />
had last season, but managed to<br />
claim the MTN FA Cup at the expense<br />
of their bitterest rivals,<br />
Hearts of Oak.<br />
Their poor showing has been attributed<br />
to their strikers after their<br />
exit from the Confederation Cup,<br />
the continent’s second most prestigious<br />
club competition against<br />
CARA of Congo.<br />
At the Dawu Stadium, in the<br />
Eastern Region, Dreams FC who<br />
have shown a lot of promise in the<br />
transfer window would dream to<br />
make a flying start, when they host<br />
Elimina Sharks. The newly promoted<br />
club are probably showing<br />
flashes that could see them become<br />
surprise title winners, if their off<br />
season hypes are anything to go by.<br />
It was therefore not surprising<br />
when the Dawu-based club’s Chief<br />
Executive Officer, Mr Kurt Okraku<br />
assured that they were confident of<br />
winning the title in the shortest possible<br />
time.<br />
Accra Hearts of Oak, fresh from<br />
sacking their Scottish coach Frank<br />
Elliot Nuttal, would hope for a<br />
bright fortune as they adapt to life<br />
at the Cape Coast Sports Stadium in<br />
the Central Region for their home<br />
matches.<br />
The Phobians will open their<br />
season away to debutants Eleven<br />
Wonders. They are entering into the<br />
season without most of last season’s<br />
top players following their<br />
contract expiration.<br />
The rainbow-coloured club<br />
though lost the final of the MTN<br />
FA Cup to Kotoko, managed to win<br />
the Ghana @60 anniversary club.<br />
Ashanti Gold will play Wa All<br />
Stars while Medeama take on<br />
Karela FC. International Allies play<br />
Bechem United while Dwarfs take<br />
on Berekum Chelsea in Cape Coast.
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