Accra Hearts of Oak Sporting Club, commonly referred to as Hearts of Oak or just Hearts, is a professional

sports club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...

based in

Accra Accra (; or ''Gaga''; ; Ewe: Gɛ; ) is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , had a population of ...

(

Greater Accra The Greater Accra Region has the smallest area of Ghana's 16 administrative regions, occupying a total land surface of 3,245 square kilometres. This is 1.4 per cent of the total land area of Ghana. It is the most populated region, with a popul ...

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

. Founded in 1911, the club is the oldest surviving football club in Ghana and its traditional colours are red, yellow and blue. Hearts of Oak competes in the

Ghana Premier League The Ghana Premier League is the top professional association football league in Ghana organized by the Ghana Football Association and formed in 1958 to replace a previous league incarnation, the Gold Coast Club Competition which ran from 1933 ...

, the premier division on the Ghanaian football pyramid. The

Accra Sports Stadium The Accra Sports Stadium, formerly named the Ohene Djan Stadium, is a multi-use stadium (40,000-capacity, all-seater) located in Accra, Ghana, mostly used for association football matches. It is also used for rugby union. Overview The stadium w ...

is the club's home grounds. Hearts has won the Premier League twenty-one times, the

Ghanaian FA Cup The Ghana FA Cup, currently known as the MTN FA Cup for sponsorship purposes, is the annual knockout competition in Ghanaian football created in 1958, a year after the independence of Ghana. Open to all Ghanaian football clubs, the competiti ...

a record twelve times, the Ghana Super Cup, a joint record three times the President's Cup, six times, and the

CAF Champions League The CAF Champions League, known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and formerly the African Cup of Champions Clubs, is an annual football club (association football), club football competition organized by the Conf ...

and the CAF Confederations Cup once each. Accra Hearts of Oak was also ranked eighth football 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 football club in West Africa to have won a

Continental Treble A treble in association football is achieved when a club team wins three trophies in a single season. A continental treble involves winning the club's top-level domestic league competition, main domestic cup competition, and main continental tro ...

; one of 6 Africa-based clubs and one of 21 football clubs worldwide to have achieved this feat. During the colonial period, Hearts of Oak won a combined total of eight football 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 six times, including the final tournament played in 1954. As of 2020, Accra Hearts of Oak SC is one of the most valuable football clubs from Ghana, valued at $5.3 million.

History

The club was founded on 11 November 1911, in Accra. Hearts of Oak won their first major 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 also 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 Football League and have flourished ever since. In the year 2000, the Hearts of Oak won the Ghanaian FA cup, the

and for the first time in their history the

. This was the most successful year in the club's history. The team was led by club captain, Joseph Ansah. On 9 May 2001, 127 people died in Africa's worst footballing disaster. During a match between rivals, Hearts of Oak and

Asante Kotoko Asante Kotoko Sporting Club, simply known as Asante Kotoko, is a professional sports, professional association football, football club founded on 31 August 1935 and based in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Nicknamed the ''African crested ...

. Trouble started when supporters of Asante Kotoko began ripping out seats in an act of

hooliganism Hooliganism is disruptive or unlawful behavior such as rioting, bullying and vandalism, often in connection with crowds at sporting events. A hooligan is a person that engages in illicit reckless behaviors and is a public nuisance. Etymology ...

in protest at a goal allowed by the referee. The match was officiated by referee J. Wilson Sey, from

Cape Coast Cape Coast is a city and the capital of the Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly, Cape Coast Metropolitan District and the Central Region (Ghana), Central Region of Ghana, Ghana. It is located about from Sekondi-Takoradi and approximately from Ac ...

. Police reacted by firing

tear gas Tear gas, also known as a lachrymatory agent or lachrymator (), sometimes colloquially known as "mace" after the Mace (spray), early commercial self-defense spray, is a chemical weapon that stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland in the ey ...

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 of inquiry, indicted six police officers in its initial report, but 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.

Grounds

Accra Hearts of Oak play home matches at the

. The Accra Sports Stadium holds an estimated 40,000 seats. Although purchased in the 1980s, the Pobiman Training Ground was only put to use in the summer of 2018. Construction for an expansion of the 19-acre site in the Pobiman neighborhood, is currently in the planning stages way. The club plans to build a state-of-the-art facility.

Rivalries

Accra Hearts of Oak's longest established rivalry is with Asante Kotoko S.C. and their city rivals Accra Great Olympics FC.

Current squad

First team squad

''Reference as of 12 March 2021''

Out on loan

Honours

Official trophies (recognised by CAF and FIFA)

Domestic

**Champions (20)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 *

**Winners (12): 1973, 1974, 1979, 1981, 1989, 1990 (After winning a protest that declared them winners), 1993–94, 1995–96, 1999, 2000,

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

(record) * Ghana Super Cup **Winners (3): 1997, 1998, 2021 (joint record)

International

**Winners (1):

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

**Runners-up (2):

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

CAF Confederation Cup The CAF Confederation Cup, known as the TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup for sponsorship purposes, is an annual association football football team, club competition established in 2004 and organized by Confederation of African Football, CAF ...

**Winners (1):

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

CAF Super Cup The CAF Super Cup, known as TotalEnergies CAF Super Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual African association football competition contested between the winners of the CAF Champions League and the CAF Confederation Cup. The competition was f ...

: **Winners (1):

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

**Runners-up (1):

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

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 Coast

*''Inclusive of trophies won in the Accra Football League (Guggisberg Shield) and the Gold Coast Club Competition, both played during the colonial period'' **Champions (8): 1920, 1922, 1925, 1927, 1929, 1933, 1935, 1953–54 *Contributor: Bright Yeboah Taylor (Ghanaian Sports Historian)

Notable players

''For all former players with a Wikipedia article see :Accra Hearts of Oak S.C. players''

Club captains

* Mahatma Ottoo (2011–2013) * Thomas Abbey (−2017) * Inusah Musah (2018) * Fatawu Mohammed (2018–present)

Managers

''List of managers since 1991'' *

Petre Gavrilă Petre Gavrilă is a Romanian football manager who last worked as the head coach of defunct Turkish club Vanspor. Career Gavrilă started his managerial career with Chimia Râmnicu Vâlcea. After that, he coached Accra Hearts of Oak S.C., the Gh ...

(1991–95) *

Cecil Jones Attuquayefio Cecil Jones Attuquayefio (18 October 1944 – 12 May 2015) was a Ghanaian football player and coach. International career Attuquayefio played many times for the Ghana national team and helped the team win the 1965 African Nations Cup. Coac ...

(1998–01) * Herbert Addo (2002–03) *

Ernst Middendorp Ernst Middendorp (born 28 October 1958) is a German football coach who coaches Cape Town Spurs. Apart from coaching in Germany, Middendorp has coached football clubs in Ghana, South Africa, Ethiopia, Tanzania, China, Iran and Cyprus. He has also ...

(2004) *

(2004) * Archibald Lamptey (2004–05) * Emmanuel Ofei Ansah (2005) *

Eyal Lahman Eyal Lahman (; born 29 September 1965) is an Israeli football manager. Biography Born in Petah Tikva, Lahman joined the Hapoel Petah Tikva youth system, but left the club at 16 to join Petah Tikva-based Hapoel Mahane Yehuda. He returned to H ...

(2008) * Kosta Papić (2008–09) *

Nebojša Vučićević Nebojša "Uške" Vučićević (; 29 June 1962 – 11 March 2022) was a Serbian football manager and player. Playing career Vučićević started out at OFK Beograd, before transferring to Partizan in 1984. He spent the next five seasons with the ...

(2011–12) *

Charles Akonnor Charles Kwabla Akonnor (born 12 March 1974) is a Ghanaian football manager and former player who most recently managed the Ghana national team. A former midfielder, he spent most of his club career in Germany. He made 51 appearances for the Gha ...

(2012) * David Duncan (2012–13) * Mohammed Ahmed (Polo) (Interim) (2014) * Herbert Addo (2014–2015) *

Kenichi Yatsuhashi Kenichi Yatsuhashi (Japanese: 八橋健一, born 6 February 1969 in Japan) is a Japanese football manager who currently manages football club Angthong in the Thai League 3 Western region. Career College and youth coaching career Arriving a ...

(2015–2016) *

Sérgio Traguil Sérgio Traguil is a Portuguese football manager that worked in Benfica Youth Teams 2009 to 2012, got the 3rd place of Ghana Premier League only 3 points behind the Winner with no defeat at home matches 2016, Won the best attack of Girabola 2018, ...

(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 Samuel Boadu (born 24 February 1986) is a Ghanaian professional football manager and former player who last served as the head coach of Accra Hearts of Oak S.C. in the Ghana Premier League and serves as the assistant coach of the Ghana national ...

(2021–2022) * Slavko Matic (2022–2023) *

Martin Koopman Martin Koopman (born 5 June 1956 in Wezep) is a Dutch former Association football, football Defender (association football), defender, who played for Go Ahead Eagles, FC Twente and Cambuur Leeuwarden. He could also play as a midfielder. After 2 ...

(2023) * Aboubakar Ouattara (2023-date)

Seasons

2020–21 Accra Hearts of Oak S.C. season The 2021–21 season of Ghanaian club Accra Hearts of Oak S.C. The season covered the period from 20 November 2020 to 8 August 2021. Season overview The Hearts of Oak won the domestic double, the league and the FA Cup. They won the league after ...

References

{{CAF Super Cup winners 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 H H H