Accra Hearts of Oak S.C.

Accra Hearts of Oak S.C.
Accra Hearts of Oak Sporting Club is a sports club based in Accra (Greater Accra), Ghana. Hearts of Oak competes in the Ghana Premier League, the premier division on a soccer pyramid. The Accra Sports Stadium is the club's home grounds, where it plays its home games.
It has won the Premier League 21 times, the Ghanaian FA Cup a record 12 times, the Ghana Super Cup, a joint record 3 times the President's Cup, 6 times, and the CAF Champions League and the CAF Confederations Cup once each. Accra Hearts of Oak was ranked 8th soccer club in the world in the year 2000 when the club dominated most of the continent's sporting activities. Accra Hearts of Oak remains the only soccer club in West Africa to have won a Continental Treble; 1 of 6 Africa-based clubs and 1 of 21 clubs worldwide to have achieved this feat. During the colonial period, Hearts of Oak won a combined total of 8 league trophies in the Accra Football League and the Gold Coast Club Competition, both precursors to the Ghana Premier League. In the Accra Football League, Hearts of Oak won the Guggisberg Shield donated by Sir Gordon Guggisberg, then Governor of the Gold Coast in 1922; the competition for Accra-based clubs was played on 12 occasions between 1922 and 1954; Hearts of Oak won the Shield 6 times, including the final tournament played in 1954.
History
The club was founded on 11 November 1911 in Accra. Hearts of Oak won a match in 1922 when Sir Gordon Guggisberg, then Governor of the Gold Coast, founded the Accra Football League. Hearts won 6 out of 12 seasons in this league. The club won the 1953/54 edition of the Gold Coast Club Competition - the colonial precursor to the Ghana Premier League. In 1956, Hearts joined the Ghanaian Soccer League.
In the year 2000, the Hearts of Oak won the Ghanaian FA cup, the Ghana Premier League and for the first time in its history the CAF Champions League. This was the "most successful year" in the club's history. The team was led by club Joseph Ansah.
On 9 May 2001, 127 people died in a disaster. During a match between rivals, Hearts of Oak and Asante Kotoko. Trouble started when supporters of Asante Kotoko began ripping out seats in an act of hooliganism in protest at a goal allowed by the referee. The match was officiated by referee J. Wilson Sey, from Cape Coast. Police reacted by firing tear gas into the crowd, it has been suggested that this was an over-reaction. Reports suggest that the gates to the ground were locked and the stadium was not up to FIFA standards. The rush to escape the tear gas was a contributory factor to the death toll. A commission inquiry, indicted 6 police officers in its initial report, and they were not convicted as it was deemed that the deaths could have been caused by the stampede instead of the tear gas. As of 2020, the transfer value of the Accra Hearts of Oak was £2.03 million, the highest of all sports clubs in Ghana.
Roster
First team squad
Reference as of 12 March 2021
Out on loan
Record
Official trophies (recognised by CAF and FIFA)
Domestic
Ghana Premier League
Champions (21): 1956, 1958, 1961–62, 1971, 1973, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1984, 1985, 1989–90, 1996–97, 1997–98, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004–05, 2006–07, 2008–09, 2020–21
Ghanaian FA Cup
Winners (12): 1973, 1974, 1979, 1981, 1989, 1990 (After winning a protest that declared them winners), 1993–94, 1995–96, 1999, 2000, 2021, 2022 (record)
Ghana Super Cup
Winners (3): 1997, 1998, 2021 (joint record)
International
CAF Champions League
Winners (1): 2000
Runners-up (2): 1977, 1979
CAF Confederation Cup
Winners (1): 2004
CAF Super Cup:
Winners (1): 2001
Runners-up (1): 2005
Other GFA National Titles
Ghana SWAG Cup: 7
1973, 1974 (shared), 1977 (shared), 1978, 1979, 1984, 1985 Ghana Telecom Gala: 4
GHALCA Special Cup: 3
Ghana Top Four Cup: 3
Ghana Top Eight Cup: 2
President's Cup: 6
2003, 2009, 2013, 2015, 2022, 2023
Independence Cup: 4
PLB Special Knockout: 1
June 4 Cup: 3
31 December Revolution Cup': 1
Gold CoastInclusive of trophies won in the Accra Football League (Guggisberg Shield) and the Gold Coast Club Competition, both played during the colonial periodChampions (8): 1920, 1922, 1925, 1927, 1929, 1933, 1935, 1953–54
Contributor: Bright Yeboah Taylor (Ghanaian Sports Historian)
ManagersList of managers since 1991''
Petre Gavrilă (1991–95)
Cecil Jones Attuquayefio (1998–01)
Herbert Addo (2002–03)
Ernst Middendorp (2004)
Cecil Jones Attuquayefio (2004)
Archibald Lamptey (2004–05)
Emmanuel Ofei Ansah (2005)
Eyal Lahman (2008)
Kosta Papić (2008–09)
Nebojša Vučićević (2011–12)
Charles Akonnor (2012)
David Duncan (2012–13)
Mohammed Ahmed (Polo) (Interim) (2014)
Herbert Addo (2014–2015)
Kenichi Yatsuhashi (2015–2016)
Sérgio Traguil (2016 –2016)
Frank Nuttall (2017–18)
Henry Wellington Lamptey (2018)
Seth Hoffmann (2018)
Kim Grant (2018–2019)
Edward Nii Odoom (2020)
Kosta Papić (2020–2021)
Samuel Nii Noi (Interim) (2021)
Samuel Boadu (2021–2022)
Slavko Matic (2022–)
References
External links
Association football clubs established in 1911
Football clubs in Ghana
Hearts of Oak
1911 establishments in Gold Coast (British colony)
Sports clubs and teams in Ghana
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