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Jones Attuquayefio has died

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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

Kofi Oppong Kyekyeku

I am a Ghanaian Broadcast Journalist/Writer who has an interest in General News, Sports, Entertainment, Health, Lifestyle and many more.

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