MTNFootball

AshantiGold are considered as one of the major forces in Ghana football even though they have been unable to match the the support base of Hearts of Oak or Asante Kotoko.

AshGold was founded in 1978 by a group of employees of the Ashanti Goldfields Corporation which quickly catapulted them to prominence.

The three-time Ghana champions, who play at the Len Clay Stadium in Obuasi, stunned the country in the mid 1990s when they made some brisk signings by competing with giants Hearts and Kotoko for talents.

Employees of the company funded the team until1993 when the board of the mining firm noticed the club's rise and took over its running with the setting up of a management team.

That next season, AshGold finished third in the division after only Ghanaian powerhouses Asante Kotoko and Accra Hearts of Oak Sporting Club.

The next year a 13-man Board of Directors was established and AshGold won the league. Over the next two years, AshGold won the league again.

They have competed in three continental competitions representing the country. In 1995 they reached the quarter-finals in the African Champions League.  In 1996 they reached the last 16. In 1997 they were the runners up of the African Champions League.

AshGold have never matched the greatness of their three year league title run, but have remained a top team in the Ghana PremierLeague.

They continue to produce excellent footballers who have played throughout Europe. Former Ghana captain Charles Akonnor is among several top-class players who played for the Obuasi-based team.

Others are Augustine Ahinful, Stephen Baidoo, Isaac Boakye, Daniel Opare and Mubarak Wakaso. Cameroon striker Valentine Atem also played for the team before moving to Germany.

The current AshGold squad coach by Croatian Zdravko Logarusic is dominated by young players from the team's academy.

Some of the club's current key players are Aminu Mohammed, Aziz Ibrahim, Aziz Ibrahim and James Tagoe.