The last teams to win consecutive Ghana Premier League titles were the Asante Kotoko side of Maxwell Konadu and of Mas-Ud Didi Dramani.
The Porcupine Warriors won the Ghanaian championship three times on the trot during a highly successful vintage. Konadu led them to the 2011/12 title before Didi took over to clinch the 2012/13 and 2013/14 editions. Didi also won the Double in 2013/14 season as Kotoko won the FA Cup too.
Hearts of Oak won the 2020/21 Ghana Premier League representing a first major silverware under the Togbe Afede era.
But can they defend their title in 2021/22?
Why not. They have done it before !
The Ghana FA says the next football season commences October 29th meaning some 80 days from now, the Phobians will begin the defence of their double honors – the League and the FA Cup.
Indeed the last time Hearts of Oak won consecutive league titles was 19 years ago during the great era of the 64 Battalion that saw the Phobians win an unpresented six league titles in a row between 1996 and 2002.
In terms of the FA Cup, the last side to win it and clinch it again the next season is still Hearts of Oak – 1999 and 2000 – and so one cannot doubt the capabilities of such a massive cub.
If they are to maintain the core of the team of last season and go ahead to improve the squad, this Hearts of Oak side is very much capable of winning it again.
It is now harder to defend it
However recent history show that the league and the FA Cup are very hard to defend.
The last 9 editions of the FA Cup have seen different winners. Kotoko in 2001, Nania in 2011, New Edubiase in 2012, it was Medeama in 2013, Kotoko in 2014, Medeama again in 2015, Bechem United in 2016, Kotoko in 2017 and now Hearts of Oak in 2021. Hard for a team to win it in a row.
Since the Konadu and Dramani vintage at Kotoko, no Ghana Premier League side has succeeded in winning titles in a row. Ashantigold won it in 2015, they failed in the next season, Wa All Stars now known as Legon Cities in 2016, Aduana Stars claimed it in 2017.
It is this recent trend that makes the possibility of the Phobians defending their titles a hard objective to achieve. But not impossible.
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