Even with three more matches to end Ghana’s premier national football league both the champions and the bottom club have been decided. Asante Kotoko with an unassailable 60 points tally and a 13 points gap between their nearest challengers Kpandu Heart of Lions are champions for the 21st time since the inception of the league half a century ago.

Accra Great Olympics with a paltry 23 points from 27 games are relegation certainties.

Two clubs will be relegated so it is now a struggle for survival between Tema Real Sportive and Accra Zaytuna to decide who joins Accra Great Olympics to play in the lower division next season. Both clubs have 30 points apiece and their remaining fixtures are so tricky that perhaps their fate can only be decided after their final home matches on the last day of the competition.

On the last day of reckoning on July 6 Sportive will be home to Kpandu Heart of Lions and Zaytuna will face Real Tamale United.

For the records this is the second time Olympics will be facing relegation. The blue and white shirted team affectionately called the Wonder club of Ghana was relegated at the end of the 2004 season incidentally the club’s 50th anniversary. Observers believe that board room wrangling was the remote cause of Olympics poor performance and unless they put their house in order it may be very difficult for them to return to the premier league in the near future.

Meanwhile on the national front, match fever has gripped the nation as the Black Stars prepare for their crucial World Cup/ Africa Cup qualifying match against Gabon at the Ohene Djan Stadium in Accra on Sunday June 22.

Gabon won the first leg match played in Libreville last Saturday June 14 by two goals to nothing and the Black Stars are getting full national support to gain revenge. There is real pressure on the Black Stars to shine because Libya has climbed to the top of the group table with 9 points following their clear cut 4-0 win over Lesotho. The Black Stars have six points.

The fact is only two from each group of four will qualify for the next stage of the qualifying series and Ghana would have to buck up. Even though Ghana has another home match against Lesotho there is a tough away encounter against Libya pending which means two home victories for the Black Stars would count a lot in the final analysis.

Even though the Black Stars were not impressive in their first match against Gabon fans are prepared to accept the excuse that flight fatigue ( Accra- Bloemfontein- Libreville) might have affected the players and having rested their limbs for some few days they must be able to match the tough tackling Gabonese.

There are enough signs in town that football fans will fill the stadium to capacity even though many of them are not happy about the uncertainty surrounding the technical direction of the team. Reports that the Football Association had signed on a new German coach , has been denied by the FA but acting coaching Sellas Tetteh says he has been officially informed that Sunday would be his last assignment with the Black Stars.

Despite all this fuss the mood in the country is that everybody wants a repetition of the Black Stars heroic adventures in Germany 2006 and every encouragement would be given the team on their forward march to repeat the dose in South Africa 2010 of course not forgetting Angola 2010.