Have you ever wonder how some of the oldest football clubs
came to being in Ghana? Well, It is believed that, cape coast was the birth
place of football in Ghana where students of the Local Government Boys School
were inspired by their Jamaican headmaster, Mr. Briton. “The enthusiasm with
which the students followed sports was said to be fanatical”
From then, the progress and heightening love of football
swept through nationwide till date. As a result lots of sports clubs were
formed. In 1903, the first football club was formed. The first football club
was cape coast Excelsior. The football pioneers ordered their first kits from
the United Kingdom which consisted of jerseys with red and yellow stripes,
white shorts, socks, football boots and caps. The first footballs they used
were gifts from sailors who were regularly at cape coast ports.
Some few months later, the town was boasted with a lots of
clubs which has attention-grabbing names like Blankon’s XI, Bolton Wanderers,
Energetics, Evertons, Garden, Judges, Majestic, MysteriousDwarfs, Rose XI,
Swallows, Titanics and Venomous vipers etc. Apart from vipers and Dwarfs,
currently in the premier division, the rest of the teams mentioned above are no
longer in existence.
Then, in 1910, Accra Hearts of Oak joined the rise with the
formation of Invincibles in James Town which has stood the test of time and can
now boast of the accolade as the oldest football club in Ghana. They became a
founding member of the national league in 1956 and have flourished since then. They
have won the national league twenty {20} times with ten {10} Ghanaian FA cup, two
{2} Ghanaian super cup, once CAF confederation cup 2004 and also in 2000 they
won CAF champion league and became Runner up four years later.
1918, the football fever swept through sekondi-Tarkoradi
also aknown as twin town in the western region. Later in 1919 a powerful team
was formed called sekondi Eleven Wise affectionately called known as “Western
Show Boys”. They became a founding member of the national league in 1960. They have
won the premier league once in the history.
In the year 1925, another great team was formed called Fanti
United which later reformed to sekondi Hasaacas. Popularly goes by the saying “Giants
of the West”. In 1958, they joined the national league and in 1977, they won
the special one round “Novelty league”. They have also won premier league once.
Twenty {20} years down the line, Kumasi, the Garden City of
Ashanti kingdom also joined train in 1926. The first of all Ashanti football
club formed was Ashanti united by a young driver Kwasi Kuma. The club later on
changed names three times, from Ashanti United to Titanics, then Mighty Atoms
and finally Asante Kotoko in 1935. The club was known as “porcupine warriors”.
Asante Kotoko became one of the greatest clubs in the country. Asante kotoko
has won the national league a record of twenty-four {24} times since 1958. They
have also won the Ghanaian FA cup eight {8} times with two super cup, CAF
confederation cup Runne up, two {2} times CAF champions and five {5} times CAF
champion league Runner up.
Kotoko and Hearts have won forty-four {44} of the fifty-four
{54} national league title contested and countless pieces of silverware with
neither having tasted relegation since the inception of the Ghanaian elite
division.
