Mighty Blackpool
Full nameMighty Blackpool
Nickname(s)The Tis-Tas Boys
Founded1923; 101 years ago (1923)
GroundNational Stadium
Freetown, Sierra Leone
Capacity45,000
ChairmanSierra Leone Mohamed Bah
ManagerSierra Leone Alusine ‘Bala’ Kargbo
LeagueSierra Leone National Premier League
2022–20232nd

Mighty Blackpool is a Sierra Leonean football club based in the capital Freetown. They play in the Sierra Leone National Premier League, the top football league in the country. Blackpool represents the West End of Freetown and their home games are played at the National Stadium in Freetown.

The club was founded in 1923 under the name Socro United and they are the oldest and most successful football club in Sierra Leone, having won the Premier League fifteen times and the FA Cup four times. They changed their name to Mighty Blackpool in 1954 to show their admiration for the former Blackpool and England player Sir Stanley Matthews.[1]

Mighty Blackpool have an intense rivalry with city rivals East End Lions.

History

Although Mighty Blackpool have won the league title fifteen times, the last time they were league champions was in the 2001 season after a dramatic finish to the season saw them finish one point ahead of Old Edwardians.[2]

In 1989 Mighty Blackpool reached the quarter-final stages of the African Cup of Champions Clubs; the first time a club from Sierra Leone had reached that stage. In the first round they beat reigning champions ES Sétif from Algeria and on the second round beat Djoliba Athletic Club from Mali, before losing to Tonnerre Yaounde from Cameroon in the quarter finals.[2]

In the 2007 league campaign, a 2–0 win over Golf Leopards on 15 July meant that Blackpool were on 24 points from 12 games.[3]

Mighty Blackpool's record in the African Cup of Champions Clubs has mostly seen them eliminated in the early rounds. In 1968 they were due to play Congolese club, Étoile du Congo in the preliminary round but withdrew from the competition before the matches were played handing Étoile du Congo a walkover, and in 1975 they lost 3–0 on aggregate to Djoliba Athletic Club of Mali in the first round. In 1979 they again lost in the first round, drawing 4–4 with Accra Hearts of Oak SC of Ghana on aggregate but losing out on penalties 4–2. And in 1980 they lost to ASF Police of Senegal 4–1 on aggregate in the first round.

In 1989 they reached the Quarterfinal stage of the African Cup of Champions Clubs. In the preliminary round they had a walkover, when Benfica withdrew from the competition. In the first round they beat Algerian club ES Sétif 5–3 on penalties after the two matches ended all square at 1–1. In the second round they met Djoliba Athletic Club again, this time winning 2–1 on aggregate. They went out of the competition in the Quarter Final stage losing 4–1 to Cameroon club, Tonnerre Yaoundé.[4] In 1992 they were again eliminated in the first round, this time by Canon Yaoundé of Cameroon after beating LPRC Oilers of Liberia in the preliminary round.[5]

In 2006 they played in the CAF Confederation Cup, losing to CSS Richard-Toll of Senegal in the preliminary round [6]

Honours

League

1968 (not official championship),[7] 1988, 1991, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2001

Cups

1983, 1988, 1994, 2000

Performance in CAF competitions

1968: withdrew in preliminary round
1975: First Round
1979: First Round
1980: First Round
1989: Quarterfinals
1992: First Round
2006 – Preliminary round
1984 – First Round
1994 – Second Round
2008 – Eliminated in the second round by CSS of Senegal (Stade Demba Diop)
The Starting Line Up in 2008
Coach: Christian Cole
Assistant: Charlie Wright
1. Norway Shongbon (Captain) (pro)
2. Cyprus Saway Dollar (pro)
3. Ibrahim Kargbo Meuncle
4. Pizzo
5. Norway David Simbo (pro)
6. Lanssana Bayoh
7. Lebanon Muhmuni Khumson (pro)
8. Sweden Abu Tommy (pro)
9. Cyprus Adrew Alie (pro)
10. Serbia Komba Tongu (pro)
11. Portugal Daniel Dove (pro)

Notable former players

Notes

  1. ^ Mighty Blackpool F.C. Sierra Leone BBC Archived 27 September 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ a b "Blackpool win new Leone league". BBC Sport. 7 August 2001. Retrieved 18 July 2007.
  3. ^ "Blackpool wallops Golf Leopard 2–0". The New Citizen. 17 July 2007. Archived from the original on 9 October 2007. Retrieved 22 January 2007.
  4. ^ "African Club Competitions 1989". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. 18 May 2002. Retrieved 18 March 2008.
  5. ^ "African Club Competitions 1992". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. 6 January 2003. Retrieved 18 March 2008.
  6. ^ "African Club Competitions 2006". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. 7 September 2007. Retrieved 18 March 2008.
  7. ^ a b "Sierra Leone – List of Champions".
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