Baba Yara Stadium misses the CAF Champions League after 17 years of absence.
The famous money zone of the CAF Champions League has been absent at the Baba Yara Stadium for a whopping 17 years and one month.
It will be exactly 6,264 days on Friday since Asante Kotoko hosted JS Kabylie of Algeria in the MD5 of the 2006 CAF Champions League as it was the last time a Champions League money zone game was played at the Baba Yara Stadium.
Asante Kotoko under the tutelage of the late Coach Emmanuel Kwasi Afranie and Malik Jabir, 19-year-old Mark Amofa’s brace secured Kumasi Asante Kotoko a 2-1 must-win victory over the Algerians.
Here, Sportsworldghana takes you through what transpired on that fateful day
Asante Kotoko v JS Kabylie
Venue: Baba Yara Sports Stadium
Date: Saturday 09 September 2006
Time: 2 pm
Referee: Abdulhakim Shelmani, Libya
Build up to the game
Asante Kokoto had been embarrassed in Cairo by Al Ahly as the Ghanaians conceded four goals in the first 18 minutes in the 4-0 thumping. Mohammed Aboutrika (6th pen), Mohamed Shawki (8), Osama Hosni (15), and Flavio Amado (18) goals condemned Asante Kotoko to a defeat which made their next game against JS Kabylie in Kumasi a must-win.
JSK had been beaten 2-0 in Tunisia against CS Sfaxien and needed a win in Kumasi by all means to revive their hope of qualifying for the semi-finals.
Matchday report
Asante Kotoko Line-up
*Eric Nii Baah (GK), Micheal Ofosu Appiah, Samuel Addo, Osei Kwame Junior, George Yamoah, Micheal Asante, Edmund Owusu Ansah, Mohammed Mutala, Douglas Nkrumah, Nana Arhin-Duah, Mark Amofa
Coach: Emmanuel Akwasi Afranie
JSK Line-up
*Lounes Gaouaoui (GK), Rahim Meftah, Brahim Zafour, Samir Djouder, Mohamed Rabie Meftah, Omar Daoud, Anwar Boudjakdji, Nassim Hamlaoui, Wassiou Oladipupo, Cheikh Oumar Dabo, Hamza Yacef
JSK coach: Gaucho
Nassim Hamlaoui’s cross was met by Hamza Yacef who headed the ball into the net as the helpless Eric Nii Baah couldn’t do anything about it in the 3rd minute to give the visitors the lead.
JSK silenced Baba Yara Stadium for 35 minutes until teenager Mark Amofa equalised to lift the mood of the Fabolous fans in the 38th minute. Mark Amofa’s 75th-minute strike was enough to consign the Algerians to a 2-1 defeat as Asante Kotoko won their second game of the group. Aziz Ansah, Osei Akoto and Kwame Obeng Darko replaced Osei Kwame Jnr, Mark Amofa and Douglas Nkrumah.
Asante Kotoko and JS Kabylie were eliminated from the group as CS Sfaxien and Al Ahly qualified for the semi-finals.
The Baba Yara Stadium will welcome Algerian Champions CR Belouizdad as Medeama adopts the place as their home for the 2023-24 CAF Champions League.
It will be 6,264 days (894 weeks 6 days) since a CAF Champions League group stage game was played in Kumasi at the Baba Yara Stadium.
