Who Is Really The African Continental Football Club Of The 20th Century

I one morning saw on the front page of the ‘Kotoko Express’ the inscription “Kotoko best club of the century”. Though I have never bought a copy of that paper, out of curiosity, I bought one. The content of the caption indicated that an organization called International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) has adjudged Kumasi Asante Kotoko as the continental football club of the 20th century. (This means the years between 1901 to 2000).Curiosity further inspired me to find out more about this organization and the criteria they used in determining the continent’s football club of the century and the outcome of my findings is what has necessitated the writing of this article.

OUTCOME OF THE FINDINGS

The findings revealed that the criteria for selecting the best club was exclusively based on the individual match performance by African teams throughout their participation in international club competitions (from the quarter finals to finals) from 1901 to 2000 and when that criteria was used, the following tabulations was the outcome of the top 5 Africa’s clubs of the 20th century:

Position Team Country Points

1 Asante Kotoko Ghana 149.00
2 Al-Ahly Egypt 31.50
3 El-Zamalek Egypt 126.75
4 Canon Yaoundé Cameroun 125.50
5 Asec Mimosas Cote d’Ivoire 111.50

The question at this juncture is, why should the number of matches a club has played and won determine its level in ranking but not the number of trophies it has won in that competition. Any team which participates in a competition has one thing in mind and that is to win the trophy (the Ultimate).

When history of African club championship was consulted, it revealed that by the year 2000 (which is the year under review), Zamalek had won the cup four times (1984, 1986, 1993 & 1996).
Canon Yaoundé three times (1971, 1978, & 1980),
Hafia Conakry three times (1972, 1975, & 1987),
Raja Casablanca three times (1992, 1997 & 1999),
Al- Ahly two times (1982 & 1987) and
Kotoko two times (1970 & 1983).

The records above clearly indicate that Kotoko is not the best football club of the years under review. Their argument that the number of trophies a team has won shouldn’t be used as the criteria does not hold water. Which team participates in a competition just for the sake of it, every team want to achieve the ultimate aim – the trophy. This is the reason why Kotoko supporters cry, leave the stadium dejected and in those days refused to eat their favorite meal (fufu) any time they lose a match or the trophy at the finals of a CAF organized matches. The most recent ones being their match against FAR of Morocco at the Kumasi sports stadium and that with Hearts of Oak at the same venue respectively.

WHICH TEAM IS THE BEST IN GHANA
Kumasi Asante Kotoko has always claim to be the best team in the country and their argument has always been that they have won the league trophies more than any other team in the country (21 times) as against Accra Hearts of Oak which has won it 20 times and that makes them the best .Hearts also claim to be the best team and they based their argument on the fact that they have won more league matches against Kotoko than Kotoko have won against them. Let us again consult history. History revealed that as at 5:30pm, on the 31st of October, 2010, Hearts and Kotoko had played 49 league matches, Hearts had won 17, Kotoko had won 13, the rest ended in a draw.
Fans of Kotoko always consoled themselves by saying that even if it is true that Hearts had won more matches against them, they have won the league competition more times than Hearts and according to them that is most important (the Ultimate).This is the reason why the ultimate purpose of every competition should be used to determine the best team based upon the number of times that team has won the competition. There’s one question that needs an answer from the Kotoko fraternity; why should IFFHS declare Kotoko as the football club of the 20th century and not CAF, which is the continent’s football administrative body? At CAF’s website, it is written IFFHS football club of the century and not CAF football club of the century. CAF has not declared Kotoko as the football club of the century and whoever CAF declares would be accepted by all. For instance, BBC declared Micheal Essien as their African football player of the year 2007.Didier Drogba placed 2nd in that poll. Few months later, CAF declared Drogba as the African player of that year and it has remained as such in the continent’s football history.
The four competitive matches organized by the GFA were the Gala, the FA cup, the League and the GHALCA Top 4. Hearts of Oak has won more Gala trophies than Kotoko, Hearts of Oak, from 1958 to 2001 has won the FA trophy nine times whilst Kotoko has won it Eight times within the same years. Hearts has won the GHALCA top 4 thrice whilst Kotoko has won it twice. With all these available facts, Kotoko still claim to be the best team in Ghana simply because they have won the league cups 21 times. If the years between 1964 to 2000 Zamalek has won the African champions league four times, Canon Yaoundé three times, Hafia Conakry three times, Raja Casablanca three times, Al-Ahly two times and Kotoko two times. Again, if by the year 1993 Kotoko have been at the finals seven times and has won two, Al-Ahly as at 1987 has been at the finals three times and has won it twice, if by the year 1994 Zamalek has been at the finals five times and has won the trophy four times, which of these teams should be adjudged the football club of the years under review? Taking into cognizance the fact that the last time Kotoko was at the finals of the African champions league was 1993, the last time they won the cup was 1983 (27years ago), and for nine years (1995-2003) they didn’t participate in the competition because they failed to win the league. Make your own judgement.

JOSHUA MENSAH (mjosuah@yahoo.com)Tel;0277181522 1st November 2001.