Is the Ghana Premier League competitive because there are many high-performing teams? Or is it competitive because there are many teams operating at a similar, low level?
It is pretty obvious which of the two scenarios is at play in the 14-week-old league.
But do not take my word for it.
Just look at the numbers behind the numbers.
Title race
Aduana F.C.
Outside of Hearts of Oak and Asante, it is always difficult to determine who the pretenders are and what sets them apart from the title contenders. Primarily because their performances and results are eerily similar.
Take, for instance, the current league leaders, Aduana Stars.
They have won just 8 of 14 league matches, with the remaining 6 matches split between draws and defeats.
Friday’s win over Heart of Lions took their tally to 27 points, but they are only four points better than 5th 5th-placed Lions.
It is not as if their ascension to the league summit was occasioned by a consistent run. In fact, Friday’s win was Aduana’s first win in three. If you stretch it to their last five matches, it is also only their second win, punctuated by two draws (0-0 with Holy Stars and 1-1 with Asante Kotoko) and a defeat (1-0 away to Gold Stars).
Aduana’s best spell of form over a sustained period was between October 12 and November 11, when they won six and drew two in eight matches.
A month later, they have only managed two wins from five but are still top.
Medeama S.C.
The Mauves and Yellows are the closest you would come to finding consistency. They have the longest unbeaten run in the league, and the least defeats recorded in the division, but have drawn too many games for title contenders.
In their first five matches, Medeama won four and only lost to Karela United. Since then, Medeama have drawn more matches (5) than they have won (3). Even if they were to win their outstanding match against defending champions Gold Stars, Medeama would have still won fewer matches than draws since match week 5.
Medeama’s one redeeming quality, apart from being located in the city that invented reign, is their ‘high scoring’ nature. They have scored 19 goals, the most in the division despite playing a game less.
Asante Kotoko
Until November 26, Asante Kotoko were unbeaten in the league with 4 wins and 5 draws. That represented a winning percentage of 44.4%.
Since then, Kotoko have won just once; Sunday’s scrappy 1-0 over Dreams F.C.
They have also lost twice in that period: 2-1 to Holy Stars, who are in only their second top-flight season, and 1-0 to debutants, Hohoe United.
Kotoko’s goal-scoring record, like their title rivals, is quite underwhelming. They have only scored 15 goals from 14 matches so far, failing to score on at least three occasions.
If Kotoko deserve praise, it is the fact that they remain unbeaten at home after seven matches. Even then, a closer look at the numbers exposes their inconsistency.
The Porcupine Warriors have won four of their seven home matches, drawing the remaining three.
To put their home form into context, it is only the 7th best in the division.
Lowly placed Samartex and Karela United, both on seventeen, have won more points at home than the porcupine warriors.
Hearts of Oak
Hearts, like Kotoko, also started the campaign with an unbeaten record. The Phobians remained unsullied until a 1-0 defeat to Asante Kotoko on November 9, 2025.
Yet, at no point were Hearts of Oak top of the table.
Strange? Ermm, no.
That is because the Phobians, like their title rivals, also struggled to win games regularly.
In that eight-week run, Hearts managed a perfect split of 4 wins and 4 draws.
What’s more, in 3 of their unbeaten games, the Phobians failed to score.
Since then, Hearts have managed two more wins: 1-0 over Vision F.C. and another 1-0 over Nations F.C., from their next 5.
Unlike Kotoko, Hearts could not win games at home.
In their first five home matches, the Phobians managed just one win and drew on three occasions at the Accra Sports Stadium. The other was the defeat to Asante Kotoko.
While at the Accra Sports Stadium, Hearts managed just 3 goals and conceded 3 in 5 home matches.
Last month, the club changed venues, moving to the University of Ghana Stadium, Legon.
Since then, Hearts have won twice without conceding.
On the road, however, Hearts are the best performing team in the division, with 12 points from 7 matches (out of a possible 21).
If this is the record of the best teams in the league, you can only imagine what the story is with the statistically inferior clubs.
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