Mr Owoahene Acheampong, Chairman of the GN Bank Division One League (DOL) says he is optimistic that the teams which earned promotion into the Premier League for next season will do better than the previous year’s.

The comment comes in the wake of the abysmal performance by the three clubs promoted last year to play in the 2016/17 league leading to their relegation.

All the three relegated clubs; Tema Youth, Great Olympics and Bolga All Stars were promoted into the premiership only last year, with Bolga All Stars (12 points) recording the worst performance ever in the premier league in the last decade. Elmina Sharks, the fourth team to gain promotion last year, however survived the drop.

Mr Acheampong told the GNA sports that he was not happy with the teams performance and blamed it on inadequate preparation by the clubs. He said the DOL clubs were affected by the inability to end the season on time, to allow the clubs to prepare well for premier league.

“The clubs are suffering because they are not able to prepare well. That is why we decided to complete our league ahead of time so that the teams will prepare adequately because it not easy in the premiership. We finished this season’s Division One League a month ago to enable the clubs to prepare.”

He, however, bemoaned the situation in Zone One, where there is still no decision yet as to which team would be declared champions because of some legal issues. He said they tried to prevent such court cases since it affects the newly promoted club in their preparation towards the premiership.

Two teams from the DOL in Zone Two and Zone three have nonetheless gained promotion into the premiership. Karela FC will make their debut appearance in the elite league after qualifying from Zone Two whilst Dreams FC are making a return, having qualified from Zone Three.

Meanwhile, Zone One leaders Eleven Wonders are eagerly waiting for the verdict of cases before the Review Committee to know their fate.