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Jones Attuquayefio, the legendary coach who led Hearts of Oak to Caf
Champions League glory in 2000, has died.
He was 70, having celebrated the milestone last year.
The news comes after years of throat cancer.
Joy Sports confirmed from a family source on Tuesday morning.
Who was Jones?
Jones Attuquayefio was born on October 18 1944 and he came to the
attention of national team selectors whilst turning out for Real
Republicans in the early sixties.
Together with the likes of Osei Kofi and Frank Odoi, he played for the
Academicals and following Ghana's elimination at the quarterfinals of
the 1964 Olympic Games football tournament in Japan, he began to
represent the Black Stars.
As a fresh faced 21-year old, Attuquayefio scored twice as Ghana
thrashed the then Congo-Leopoldville 5-2 in the Group phase of the
1965 African Nations Cup and he was thus part of the squad that won
the trophy by beating hosts Tunisia in the final.
He then moved to Great Olympics,following the disbanding of Real
Republicans in 1966 and that was the start of a long love relationship
with the 'Oly Dade' boys.
He inspired the club to win the Ghana league title in 1970, by which
time he had represented Ghana in two further African Nations Cup
tournaments; in 1968 and 1970 and each time Ghana finished second.
His goals took Great Olympics to the 1971 African Champions Cup
semifinals, before elimination by then defending champions Asante
Kotoko.
He suffered a serious injury during the second leg in Kumasi and even
though he playedon for three more years, he neverreally recovered his
old form afterthat game.
He became the head coach of Great Olympics in 1974, after helping the
club win the league title again that year, and held that position for
10 years.
Towards the end of his reign, he became the Vice Chairman of the Ghana
Football Association in 1982; a position he held for two years.
Attuquayefio also won the FA cup with Great Olympics in 1983.
After working with various national teams, he had a stint in La Cote
D'Ivoire, but it was in Obuasi that his tactical skills came to the
fore.
He won the 1994 and 1995 Ghana League titles with Obuasi Goldfields
and laid the foundation for then assistant, Herbert Addo totake the
team to the CAF Champions League final in 1997.
Attuquayfio became the head coach of the Black Starlets and with a
team that contained the likes of Michael Essien, Stephen Oduro,
Michael Osei and Bernard Dong Bortey, he won bronze at the1999 FiFA
Under 17 World Cup in New Zealand. By then he had taken over at Hearts
of Oak and won two league titles already.
2000 was undoubtedly a year of crowning glory for the head coach, who
had overseen a building of one of the greatest Hearts of Oak teams in
recent times.Under his tutelage, the club reached the final of the CAF
Champions League and secured a 2-1 win over Esperance in Tunis despite
the sending off of Amankwaa Mireku.
A 3-1 win in the second leg in Accra saw Hearts of Oak crowned African
champions and it also saw Attuquayefio voted Coach of the year on the
African continent.He also guided the club to Super Cup success with a
2-0 win over Zamalek.
He was asked to handle the Black Stars and after a 1-3 loss to
Liberia at home in a World Cup qualifier, he famously used a teammade
up virtually of Hearts of Oakplayers and drew 0-0 with a star-studded
Nigeria in Accra.
He left Hearts of Oak for a stint with Liberty Professionals, after
which he was named the head coach of the Benin national team.
Attuquayefio guided Benin to its first ever African Nations Cup
tournament in Tunisia in 2004 and returned for one last hurrah with
Hearts of Oak.
He was in charge when Hearts of Oak defeated archrivals Asante Kotoko
to win the inaugural Confederations Cup in early 2005.
He was made the Black Meteors head coach but failed to qualify the
team for the 2008 Olympics, but that proved a small blot on a
distinguished career.
Culled from Myjoyonline.com
