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The Accra giant is the oldest club in the annals of Ghanaian football.
The club has been very successful in its 109 years of existence. They have won the Ghana Best Flying League 20 times, the FA Cup 10 times, a CAF Champions League, a CAF Confederation Cup and a CAF Super Cup.
Here are the nine cool facts about the club:
The oldest club in Ghana
Excelsior was the first Ghanaian club to be formed in 1903. Other clubs were also formed prior to the formation of the Accra giants in 1911.
However, they did not stand the test of time and before the start of Ghana’s first league in 1956, they had all disbanded.
Hearts of Oak has been around since 1956, making it the oldest Ghanaian club.
Only Ghana club to appear on CNN / World Soccer weekly chart
Hearts of Oak was ranked the eighth best team after beating Zamalek to win the CAF Super Cup in 2001, following the CAF Champions League triumph in December.
On February 12, 2001, the Ghanaian giants Hearts of Oak were named the 8th best club in the world on CNN / World Soccer’s weekly list.
This came a day after the club beat Egypt’s Zamalek 2-0 to win the only Super Cup for a Ghanaian team at the Kumasi Sports Stadium.
Below is a list of the top 10 clubs announced by CNN / World Soccer
Ranking Team Country Points
(1 as Rome Italy 90 points
(2) Boca Juniors Argentina 89 pts
(3) Real Madrid Spain 83 pts.
(4) Manchester Utd England 81 points
(5) Bayern Munich Germany 60 pts
(6) Deportivo La Coruna Spain 3 pts
(7) Vasco da Gama Brazil 48 pts
(8) Ghana Oak Hearts 26 pts.
(9) Arsenal England 25 points
(10) Lazio Italy 22 pts.
The Accra powerhouse won the first league in Ghana:
Accra Hearts is proud to win the first Ghana Best Flights League held in 1956.
The Phobians finished first on the league list and were crowned champions after a crowning match against Eleven Wise.
The only Ghanaian club to win three different continental titles
Hearts of Oak won the CAF Champions League in 2000 and in 2001 won the CAF Super Cup.
Again in 2005, the Phobians defeated their archrivals Asante Kotoko to take over the 2004 CAF Confederation.
The road to this unprecedented feat by a Ghanaian club
The first great continental achievement was achieved in December 2000 when they defeated Esperance, the Tunisian giant. Hearts of Oak had failed to win the title despite reaching the final in 1977 and 1979, but under the coaching of Cecil Jones Attoquayefio they marked the enviable feat.
The journey towards this great feat began in March when Hearts of Oak eliminated Horoya AC of Guinea 4-3 on aggregate, before beating DC Motema Pembe of DR Congo 4-3 on aggregate in the second round to reach to the CAF Champions League group. stage / currency zone.
They were drawn into Group ‘B’ with players like Lobi Stars, El Ahly, Jeanne d’Arc.
The Continental Club Masters scored a goal in the last minute through Emmanuel Donkor in their first Champions League group match against El Ahly in Accra. The North African giant took the lead before Hearts of Oak fought from behind to win the game 2-1.
They were paired with two consecutive away victories against Jeanne d’Arc in Senegal. One game Ishmael Addo scored a hat-trick, the first away hat-trick in the competition’s history, before sacking the Lobi Stars 2-0 in Nigeria to complete the first round of group matches.
They started the second half of the group stage by beating Lobi Stars 2-0 in the second leg, before settling for a one-all in Egypt against Ahly and finishing off with a one-all against Jeanne d’Arc at home.
The competition at that time had no place for the semi-finals, so the winner of group ‘A’ Esperance booked an appointment with Hearts of Oak, the winner of group ‘B’.
The Ghanaian side were undefeated in the group stage, which was the first time a club did so.
Hearts was the first club to win the first edition of the CAF Confederation
Hearts and Kotoko made history by becoming the first teams from the same country to meet in the final of any African club competition.
Asante Kotoko was at the time a favorite in terms of player quality and team organization. But the Accra giants dug deep to surprise their opponents.
Exactly 15 years today, Accra Hearts of Oak defeated arch rivals Asante Kotoko 8-9 after a marathon penalty shootout to win the 2004 CAF Confederation Cup final on Sunday January 9, 2005 at Baba Yara Sports Stadium, Kumasi .
The final was supposed to be played in December 2004, but was rescheduled for January 2005 due to the 2004 general elections in Ghana.
Both leagues ended in a whole and in both situations Hearts of Oak came from behind to tie.
Charles Taylor scored Kotoko’s goal in the 51st minute, by the way, his first goal against his former club Hearts of Oak since joining Kotoko, while Heart drew in the 80th minute through Adjah Tetteh.
Dan Quaye, Emmanuel Osei Kuffuor, Francis Bossman, Acquah Harrison, Lawrence Adjei, Ablade Morgan, Adjah Tetteh and Michael Donkor scored for the Hearts, while skipper Amankwah Mireku missed his shot. For Kotoko, Issah Ahmed, Frank Osei, Yusif Chibsah, Michael Asante, Godfred Yeboah, Dan Yeboah and Michael Ofosu-Appiah scored from their kicks, while Edmund Owusu-Ansah and Captain Joseph Hendricks missed.
Hearts won the first league in Ghana – the first league was played in 1956 and Accra Hearts of Oak was the first team to get their hands on the trophy.
Alignment of Hearts: Sannie Mohammed, Dan Quaye, Amankwah Mireku, Acquah Harrison, Michael Donkor, Francis Bossman, Adjah Tetteh, Lawrence Adjei, Louis Agyemang, Prince Tagoe, Dong Bortey / Ablade Morgan.
Coach: Cecil Jones Attuquayefio
Kotoko line-up: George Owu, Michael Ofuso Amoah, Godfred Yeboah, Joe Hendricks, Issa Ahmed, Stephen Oduro, Yusif Chibsah, Michael Asante, Michael Osei, Nana Arhin Duah / Frank Osei, Charles Taylor (Edmund Owusu Ansah).
Coach: Hans Dieter-Schmidt
READ MORE: Hearts @ 109: All-time XI
Hearts of Oak inspired the formation of Kumasi Asante Kotoko:
The story goes that, in early 1924, a young driver of one of the colonial dignitaries (Colonel Ross) accompanied him to a football game. Coincidentally, the match involved Accra Hearts of Oak and Accra Standfast. The driver, Kwasi Kuma, who was thrilled with what he had witnessed returned to Kumasi and with the help of his electrician friend, Lawrence Yaw Asamoah, formed his football club called Kumasi Rainbow; inspired by how the rainbow team had played so well that day (Heart won 2-1).
Two years later, the team’s name was changed to Ashanti United after the leaders succeeded in attracting students from the city’s schools to join the team. In 1931, there was another name change when they christened the Titanics club, given how gigantic they had become in the region, but that did not bring them enough luck and it was the name that was changed again to a more powerful one: Mighty Atoms in 1934. Mighty Atoms was not particularly different from Titanics as both names had little to no success.
In 1935, James Frimpong (also known as Teacher Frimpong), who was a professor at the Kumasi School of Government and was also involved in the management of the club, asked permission and blessings from the traditional ruler of the land, Asantehene Nana Osei Agyeman Prempeh II, to name the team after what is considered a symbol of the strong defense mechanisms and prowess of the Ashantis during wars: Kotoko (The Porcupine). On August 31, 1935, a large meeting of chiefs was called to change the name of the club and adopt it as a royal motive for the greater kingdom of the Gold Coast. His Royal Highness, Asantene and Atipinhene (Nana Boakye Yamoa) were chosen as the first sponsors of the clubs.
Hearts of Oak has other interesting nefarious records that are a stain on its reputation:
Hearts became the first African club to finish the group stage of the CAF Champions League without
On Saturday 16 September 2006 at the Obuasi Len Clay Sports Stadium, Hearts of Oak set an infamous record by becoming the first African club to enter the CAF Champions League without scoring a goal.
It was confirmed after a goalless draw against ASEC Mimosas in Obuasi.
They had lost 2-0 and 0-1 against Enyimba and lost 3-0 and scoreless in their two matches against ASEC. While they led the Orlando Pirates to a goalless draw in South Africa, but lost 1-0 at home to them, conceding a total of 7 goals without finding the back of the net.
Since the start of the CAF Champions League in 1997, Hearts are the only team to have finished the group stage without scoring.
ASEC Abidjan drew 0-0 with Ghana’s Hearts of Oak to advance to the semi-finals of the African Champions League
Their goalless draw meant Hearts of Oak finished last in the standings without scoring a single goal.
In the other group B match, the imported Nigerian Onyekachi Okonkwo led his South African club Orlando Pirates to the semi-finals at the expense of his former team.
Enyimba arrived in South Africa less than 24 hours before kick-off and played like they needed a good night’s sleep.
A quick shot from the midfielder in the 30th minute gave the Pirates a 1-0 victory over Enyimba of Nigeria in the last of Group B matches.
The pirates finished second in the group behind ASEC.
Enyimba had only needed a draw in the Johannesburg match to advance to the semi-finals and had several chances in the game to score, but was disappointed by a poor finish.
Aside from Okonkwo’s spot shot, the Pirates were also poor in front of goal. Congolese international Blaise Mbele missed the chance to extend the lead late in the game when he was head-to-head with the goalkeeper, but fired wide.
Hearts is the only team that has remained undefeated but failed to win the league:
The Phobians are the only club in Ghanaian football history that has been undefeated in a whole streak, but failed to win the league.
Hearts of Oak had won the league six times in a row with EK Afranie, Jones Attoquayefio, who won four, and Herbert Addo, who won the last of six titles in a row.
Addo after defending the league in 2002, threw it in the trash despite preventing the other 15 clubs from getting a win in 30 games.
Asante Kotoko, who was 10 years without a league title and showed how thirsty they were by dethroning the Accra giants.
