Guinea Ligue 1: Season kick off under threat due to protest by twelve clubs

Guinea’s Ligue 1 was set to begin its 2024-25 season this upcoming weekend but it appears that a delay to the proceedings is highly likely after a coalition of twelve top division clubs announced their intention to not participate.

Reigning champions Milo FC and Guinean giants Horoya AC are among the clubs, numbering twelve out of fourteen participants in Ligue 1. The coalition of clubs declared that they will not participate due to a lack of fulfilled promises from the league to pay subsidies amounting to 80 million Guinean Francs ($9,270) for clubs who retained their top division status last season and 40 million francs ($4,635) for clubs who were promoted to Ligue 1 for the upcoming campaign.

After the twelve clubs (Milo, Horoya, CI Kamsar, Foot Elite, Ashanti GB, Academie SOAR, Flamme Olympique, Wakriya AC, ASM Sangaredi, Loubha FC, RCCK, Renaissance FC) convened for a meeting, a statement was posted on the social media of Horoya AC explaining the decision (translated from the original in French):

The 2024-25 season has already been delayed after a couple of false starts and a sudden announcement by Ligue 1 of the fixture list for the opening matchday sparked action from the protesting clubs, who cited a promise of payment from the league made last week during a meeting between the clubs and the league.