Accra Hearts of Oak opened the 2026/27 Ghana Premier League by finally breaking a first-weekend curse that had followed them for a decade, dismantling Berekum Chelsea 4-0 at the University of Ghana Stadium in Legon on Sunday.
The afternoon still felt like a flood after years of drought: an early goal, a first-half brace from a new signing, a late header from another debutant, and a stoppage-time penalty that left no argument about the result. For a club that had last won on opening weekend in 2016 and had grown used to sterile starts, the performance under new coach Nebojsa Kapor was less a routine three points than a public unburdening.
The setting itself was temporary. With the Accra Sports Stadium reserved for Black Stars preparations ahead of an AFCON qualifier against The Gambia, Hearts had shifted their early home fixtures to the university ground and treated the borrowed pitch as if it were their own.
Kapor, still looking for his first competitive win after a Democracy Cup defeat to Asante Kotoko the week before, sent out a side rebuilt through a busy close season. John Antwi, signed from Dreams FC, needed barely four or five minutes to announce himself. The veteran striker finished from close range to give Hearts a lead they would never look like surrendering.
By the 37th minute he had a second, rising unmarked to head home a cross and send the hosts into the interval two goals clear. Berekum Chelsea, who had finished seventh last season after a strong late run and arrived with their own new faces under Kwaku Danso, spent the first half chasing shadows and collecting a booking without ever seriously threatening an equaliser.
The second half was less a contest than a controlled siege. Hearts kept the ball, squeezed the visitors into their own half and waited for the openings that a two-goal cushion always invites. Substitutions refreshed the midfield and the wide areas; Ransford Mensah remained a constant outlet on the flank.
With the clock running down, Ivorian forward Abdul Kader — also listed as Kader Mahmoud or Mamadou Kader Kourouma — marked his Hearts debut by heading in Mensah’s cross to make it 3-0. The icing came in stoppage time when centre-back Ali Mohammed stepped up to a penalty and sent the goalkeeper the wrong way. Four-nil. Clean sheet. Top of the table after one game. Kapor had his first league win, the new signings had goals, and supporters who had grown used to opening-day frustration finally had something to take home besides familiar disappointment.
Context made the result heavier than the scoreboard alone. Hearts finished third last season for a second successive year and have not been champions for six campaigns. The recruitment drive — Antwi, Kader, Vicente Anane, Dominic Nsobila and others folded in with Kelvin Osei Asibey, Ali Mohammed, Ransford Mensah and Hamza Issah — was sold as another attempt to turn expectation into a title challenge.
An opening-day win against a side Hearts have historically dominated, especially in Accra, was the minimum required to quiet early scepticism. They delivered more than the minimum. Chelsea never found a way to disrupt Kapor’s shape after the first goal.
Around the country the weekend produced its own stories — Debibi United holding Kotoko 2-2 on their Premier League debut, Vision running riot, Gold Stars slipping at Bechem — but none of them carried the same historical charge as Hearts finally scoring, and winning, on the first weekend.
Next the Phobians travel to face Bibiani Gold Stars, while Chelsea return home to meet Dreams FC. Whether Sunday’s authority lasts through a long season is another question.
