Ashanti Gold Sporting Club popularly known as AshGold is a Ghanaian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

team based in the gold mining town of

Obuasi Obuasi is a Mining Community and town in the southern part of Obuasi Municipal of the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Obuasi is the capital of the Obuasi Municipal which lies south of Ashanti capital city Kumasi 39 miles (59.4 kilometres) away south ...

, south of

Kumasi Kumasi (historically spelled Comassie or Coomassie, usually spelled Kumase in Twi) is a city in the Ashanti Region, and is among the largest metropolitan areas in Ghana. Kumasi is located in a rain forest region near Lake Bosomtwe, and is the ...

the capital of

Ashanti Region The Ashanti Region is located in southern part of Ghana and it is the third largest of 16 administrative regions, occupying a total land surface of or 10.2 percent of the total land area of Ghana. In terms of population, however, it is the mo ...

. The club are currently competing in the

Ghana Premier League The is the top professional association football division of the football league system in Ghana. Officially formed in 1956 to replace a previous league incarnation, the Gold Coast Club Competition (which began in 1933 and ended in 1953–54), t ...

History

Ashanti Gold SC was founded in 1978 by a group of employees of the

Ashanti Goldfields Corporation The Ashanti Goldfields Corporation is a gold mining company based in Ghana that was founded by Joseph Ellis and Joseph Biney both from Cape Coast. The Ashanti Mine, located at Obuasi, 56 km south of Kumasi, has been producing since 1897. Dur ...

under the name of Goldfields Sporting Club famously known as Obuasi Goldfields. The employees pleaded with management of AGC to sponsor the team, but they were always refused. The employees continued to pay the salaries and costs for the team and in the 1984 season the club finished as runner-up in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

. The management took notice and, through their leading shareholder

Lonrho Lonrho is a London-based conglomerate that was established in 1998 as Lonrho Africa plc. It is engaged in multiple business sectors in Africa, mainly agribusiness, infrastructure, transport, hospitality and support services. History Lonrho ...

, arranged funding and sent an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

to help the fledgling team. Still, no senior management was brought in to run the club. Because of their success in the FA cup, the team was promoted to Ghana

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

the most elite football division. For almost a decade the team struggled due to disorganization, until 1993 when a company official at AGC revamped the club and brought in another English manager. 2004 Obuasi Goldfields Sporting Club Ltd. were renamed AshantiGold Sporting Club Ltd. on April 16 due to AshantiGold Sporting Club's former owners

Years of success

That next season, AshGold finished third in the division after only Ashanti powerhouses

Asante Kotoko Asante Kotoko Sporting Club, simply known as Asante Kotoko, is a professional football club founded on 31 August 1935 and based in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Nicknamed the ''Porcupine Warriors'', they compete in the Ghana Premier Lea ...

. The next year a 13-man

Board of Directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

was established and AshGold won the league. Over the next two years, AshGold won the league again.

Pan-African Cups

The AshGold has competed in four competitions representing Ashanti. In 1995 they reached the quarter-finals in the

African 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 competition organized by the Confederation of African Football and co ...

and in 1996 only into the final 16. In

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

they were the runners up of the

Recent years

Ashanti Gold SC has never matched the greatness of their three-year cup run, but have remained a top team in the First Capital Plus Bank Premier League. They continue to produce excellent footballers who have played throughout

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. AshGold goalkeeper

George Owu George Owu (born 7 July 1982) is a Ghanaian former professional association football, footballer who played as a goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. Club career Owu was born in Accra. He signed for Egyptian Premier League side Al M ...

, joined the Black Stars in their quest for the

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

2006 World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

, but did not appear in a game.

Grounds

Ashanti Gold play their home matches at

Len Clay Stadium Len Clay Stadium is a multi-use stadium in Obuasi, Ghana. It was opened on 10 May 1990 and renovated on 17 April 2005 and is home to Ashanti Gold Sporting Club. It has capacity for 20,000 people. History Len Clay Stadium was opened on 10 May 1 ...

Honours

Official trophies (recognized by CAF and FIFA)

National

* First Capital Plus Bank Premier League: 4’’’' ::1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96,

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

* MTN FA Cup: 1 ::1992–93 ::''Finalist'': 1984, 2011–12

International

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 competition organized by the Confederation of African Football and co ...

**Runners-up:

Other trophies

Ghana Telecom Gala Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

: 1 ::1995–96

Performance in CAF competitions

: 4 appearances ::

– ''Finalist'' ::

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

– First Round ::

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

– First Round ::

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

Preliminary round *

African Cup of Champions Clubs 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 competition organized by the Confederation of African Football and cont ...

: 1 appearance ::

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

– Second Round *

CAF Confederation Cup The CAF Confederation Cup, known as the TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup for sponsorship purposes, is an annual association football club competition established in 2004 from a merger of the CAF Cup and the African Cup Winners' Cup and organi ...

: 2 appearances ::

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

– First Round ::

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

— First Round *

CAF Cup The CAF Cup was an annual competition organised by the CAF for domestic leagues runners-up of member associations who have not qualified to the pre-existing CAF international club competition the African Cup of Champions Clubs. History The tou ...

: 2 appearances ::

2001 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, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

– Quarter-finals ::

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

– First Round

Current squad

''As of December 2020''

Former notable players

* Abubakar Yakubu *

Johnathan Mensah Johnathan is a given name. It is an alternative spelling of Jonathan (name), Jonathan or a combination of the names John (given name), John and Jonathan (name), Jonathan. Notable people with the name include: American football *Johnathan Abram (bor ...

Mubarak Wakaso Mubarak Wakaso ( ar, مبارك واكاسو; born 25 July 1990) is a Ghanaian footballer who plays for Belgian club K.A.S. Eupen, on loan from Shenzhen F.C., and the Ghana national team as a midfielder. He spent the better part of his career ...

Former coaches

* Paulistinha *

Mohammed Gargo Mohammed Gargo (born 19 June 1975) is a Ghanaian former professional footballer who played as a defender. Playing career Club Torino Gargo's performances at the 1991 FIFA U-17 World Championship brought him to the notice of European clubs' sc ...

* Momčilo "Momo" Medić * Cecil Jones Attuquayefio (1990–93) * Dave Booth (1991–94) *

Charles Gyamfi Charles Kumi Gyamfi (4 December 1929 – 2 September 2015) was a Ghanaian footballer and coach, who as a player became the first African to play in Germany when he joined Fortuna Düsseldorf in 1960, and later became the first coach to lead the ...

(1992–93) * Cecil Jones Attuquayefio (1993–95) *

Hans van der Pluijm Hans van der Pluijm (born 3 January 1949) is a Dutch football coach who most recently coached Azam F.C. in Tanzania. A former goalkeeper, he played for FC Den Bosch between 1967 and 1986. After retiring, he was the manager of Den Bosch until 1995 ...

(July 1, 2000 – June 30, 2002), (July 1, 2004 – Oct 5, 2005) *

Sam Arday Sam Arday (2 November 1945 – 12 February 2017) was a Ghanaian association football, football coach who has managed the Ghana national football team, Ghana national side on two occasions – from 1996 to 1997, and again in 2004. He retired from t ...

(Oct 31, 2004 – May 31, 2005) * David Duncan (July 1, 2005 – June 30, 2008) *

Zdravko Logarušić Zdravko Logarušić (born 21 October 1965) is a Croatian association football, football manager, who was the manager of the Zimbabwe national football team, Zimbabwe national team from January 2020 to September 2021. Overall, he has coached in ...

(July 1, 2010 – Dec 15, 2011) * Joachim Yaw Acheampong (Dec 15, 2011 – Dec 18, 2012) * Mehdi Pashazadeh (Feb 13, 2012–2013) *

Bashir Hayford Bashir Hayford is a Ghanaian people, Ghanaian football manager who currently serves as manager for Ghana Premier League side Legon Cities FC, Legon Cities. Career In August 2018, he was appointed as manager of the Ghana women's national football ...

(Jan 1, 2013 – 2017) * Charles Akonnor (Jan 2017 – July 2018) * Milovan Cirkovic (November 2020– February 2021)

Farm team

Royal Knight F.C.
is a Division Two League football club based in

Nsawam Nsawam is a town in south Ghana and is the capital of the Nsawam-Adoagyire Municipal District, a district in the Eastern Region of south Ghana. The main ethnic group is Akan, followed by Ga and then Ewe.Eastern region Eastern Region or East Region may refer to: * Eastern Region (Abu Dhabi): Al Ain *Eastern Region, Ghana *Eastern Region (Iceland) *Eastern Region, Nepal *Eastern Region, Nigeria * Eastern Region, Serbia * Eastern Region, Uganda * Eastern Region of ...

and is also operating as a reserve team for Ashanti Gold SC. The club is currently not in operation.

References

External links

*
Ashanti Gold S.C.
at Global Sports Archive
Ashanti Gold S.C.
at Soccerway {{Ghana Premier League Football clubs in Ghana Association football clubs established in 1978 1978 establishments in Ghana Sports clubs in Ghana Ashanti Region