Michael Akuffo: Ex-Kotoko midfielder attributes club’s poor GHALCA Top 4 show to fatigue

Ghana Premier League giants, Asante Kotoko left its teeming supporters seated on a jagged edge after their horrible performance in the 2025 GHALCA Top Four competition at the Legon Sports Stadium.

The Porcupine Warriors failed to pick a point after three matches, however they recovered from that hiccup to beat league champions Gold Stars by 1-0 to lift the Champion-of-Champions at the Duns Park in Bibiani.

Akuffo, who won three consecutive league titles with Kotoko, attributes that poor show to the club’s tight fixtures that included the FA Cup glory, the President’s Cup win over rivals Hearts of Oak and the Toyota Cup where they beat Kaizer Chiefs.

“All I will say is fatigue, you can just use that to analyze the FIFA Club World Cup they played in July [where] some of the big clubs struggled.

“When you look at the competition Kotoko played in the latter part of the season or at the end of the season, most of the guys have not rested so I was expecting it and I was expecting the fans not to expect so much from the team during the Top Four,” Akuffo told Radio Gold.

“Because it is the preparatory phase and every coach is trying to find his feat [and] playing big games during preparatory phases sometimes impacts the players mentally and physically so for me I wasn’t surprised because I was expecting it.

“So will just urge the supporters to calm down [because] we have not started the main competition which is the league, the FA Cup and the [CAF] Confederation Cup.”

Asante Kotoko won the FA Cup last season, securing a spot in the 2025/26 CAF Confederation Cup where they have been paired against Nigeria side Kwara United for the preliminary phase.

⚽ Follow Pan-Africa Football across platforms for real-time news and stories.