Time to save Ghana's best football division from itself

The Division One League has too many teams

Jun 01, 2025

Thousands of colourful, exuberant fans lined up hours before a game—young boys and girls running around the stadium grounds, singing anthems and odes to their heroes. Then there are the matches. Fast, furious, and mostly competitive. Matches are almost gladiatorial. Fans are baying at each other and cheering goals, fouls, and everything in between. It is the perfect atmosphere for domestic football.

Welcome to Ghana’s Division One league.

The second tier of Ghana football is the best division in the country for a football purist. With 48 teams spread across the country, it is a truly representative competition that could be even better if it receives the required attention.

At the end of its current season, it will promote three teams to the elite ranks of the Premier League. Hohoe United, Swedru All Blacks United FC, and Techiman Eleven Wonders football club have been the best teams in what has been perhaps the most engaging season of Division One football. The three teams play in front of home crowds that very few teams in the elite division can match. They sell merchandise and are engaged within their communities. Importantly, they have excellent squads that play high-intensity, entertaining football.

It is no harsh claim to say that their ascent improves the top flight markedly.

The construction of Ghana’s top flight has led to its decline as a fan spectacle over the years. Although not deliberate, the ascent of small teams with no clear community ties over established, historically relevant teams means that the league lacks storylines. These small, market teams are perhaps efficient in their running efficient and development of players but offer little else to growing the story of a league. A match between Accra Lions and Vision FC will likely offer high-quality fare on the pitch, but the buildup will be empty. Fans have nothing to root for. Bar Asante Kotoko and Hearts of Oak matches, there is very little to sell.

The descent of the bigger clubs into the second tier has been its biggest asset. Teams like Okwahu United, Sekondi Eleven Wise, Ebusua Dwarfs, Real Tamale United, Accra Great Olympics, New Edubiase, and True Democracy have established rivalries and legacies that are contested every weekend when they take the field. There is a significant focus on community-grown players who understand the legacies they represent. They represent ethnic diversity, towns, and sometimes even entire regions. This is the foundation upon which the Division One league has thrived as a spectacle.

That is not to say it is perfect. The division is riddled with hooliganism that is enabled by crumbling infrastructure. Remuneration is low, and talent retention is even lower, but there is no doubt about its potential.

The division is not too far away from becoming financially viable. It requires hard decisions to be made. For one, it cannot remain a 48-team league. A decision by the football association to reduce it to an 18-team national league has been resisted by the teams for three years. Various reasons have been adduced for this. Cost of travel, safety of players, among others, have been cited. But for the division to meet its full potential, that decision must be enforced. Teams barely enjoy the benefits of sponsorship because there are too many. A reduced number will also allow for a proper regime of infrastructure inspection and maintenance within which the obvious advantages of the division can thrive.

Most importantly, the division must be televised. There are so many games within the division that are tailor-made for a television audience that is starved of good domestic matches. Without it, the league will continue to be a nationally anonymous division that only lives in the communities where it is contested.

That being said, let us meet the three teams joining the Ghana Premier League for the 2025/26 season

Techiman Eleven Wonders

Coach: David Nyaaba

Owner: Suleman Mubashir

Player to watch: Osman Zackaria