The CEO of Kotoko, Mr George Amoako, says the club's decision to go to Africa is their exclusive right as the MTN FA Cup champions and is fully backed by the CAF Statutes.
According to him, as the defending champions of the FA Cup, Kotoko reserve the right to represent Ghana in the next CAF Confederation Cup as at present per the CAF regulations.
Speaking to the Graphic Sports Online in an exclusive interview, Mr Amoako explained that the only thing that can change their current position is if a new FA Cup winner is declared by the GFA congress today.
"As it stands now, Kotoko are still the FA Cup champions, which means we qualify to play in the CAF Confederation Cup per the statutes," he stressed.
He said it was on that basis that Kotoko petitioned the Normalisation Committee (NC) to review its earlier decision not to let any club represent Ghana in the next CAF club competitions.
Though he was present at last Friday's stakeholders meeting between the NC and club owners where the decision was taken, Mr Amoako thought that resolution was not fair to clubs who had money and were ready to go to Africa.
He said Kotoko, apart from their status as FA Cup champions, decided to petition the NC to review the decision because the arguments which led to Ghana's withdrawal from Africa were based on lack of funds and unpreparadness of clubs due to the suspension of the league.
"But we (Kotoko) have money to go to Africa and our results in the past two months show that we are prepared", he stated.
"Apart from that we are in the process of recruiting some quality play to revamp the team we already have and the coach is working on that now", he revealed.
He pointed out that the fact that Ghanaian clubs have not been doing well in Africa of late is not a basis to deny any club which is ready to participate in Africa from doing so.
He, however, admitted that based on Kotoko's argument, Aduana Stars, which won last season's Premier League also qualify to represent the nation in the CAF Champions League if they choose to do so.
Source:Graphic.com.gh