Osei Kuffour was a key member of the history-making Hearts of Oak team of the late 1990s and early 2000s which was dubbed the 64 battalions due to their all-conquering nature-won the Ghana Premier League for six consecutive times including a treble of CAF Champions League, FA Cup and league in 2000.
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Some former players of Hearts of Oak have spoken out in recent interviews that their signing-on fees and other bonuses were not paid by the Accra giants.
Emmanuel Osei Kuffour who inspired the Phobians to win the 2000 CAF Champions League by netting 10 goals has added his voice to the claims by some ex-players of the club, alleging that the officials of the 20 times champions of Ghana even went to the extent of bribing referees to prevent the team from winning games to avoid paying winning bonuses.
“No cared for us in all the six years that we won the league. Hearts officials even negotiated with referees to officiate against us in games because they couldn’t pay our winning bonuses because when we draw, we won’t get anything,” he told FootballMadeInGhana.com.
“Despite all the ill officiating that we faced ensuring we draw games, we were too strong to be stopped, so we were still winning our games because we were united.
“We were focused on games and we always purposed in our hearts what we wanted to do. When we don’t score in the first half it meant we were understudying you and definitely the goal would come in the second half".