The stadium was inaugurated in 1962 by a football match played between Accra XI and Kumasi XI. Originally known as the Accra Sports Stadium, the stadium was renamed after
Ohene Djan, the country's first Director of Sports, in 2004 after renovations. Its renaming was quite controversial and opposed by the
Ga people. There has been ongoing controversy about the name of the stadium. On 16 June 2011, the name 'Ohene Djan Stadium' on the stadium building was changed to 'Accra Sports Stadium' without any official announcement by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly supported by the National Democratic Congress Government. It has since been reverted. As a designated venue of some of the
2008 African Cup of Nations matches, the stadium was rebuilt, upgraded, and modernized to meet
FIFA standards. Work on the stadium was completed in October 2007. It was inaugurated with a four-nation tournament that Ghana won (the Zenith Cup). The stadium is also the home of one of Africa's most popular clubs,
Hearts of Oak as well as
Accra Lions FC and
Great Olympics, but
Ghana's national team matches are sometimes played there. During the
2000 African Cup of Nations in
Ghana and
Nigeria, the stadium hosted nine matches, and was also the venue of the
1978 final. The venue has also hosted important
professional boxing events, numbering 91 professional boxing programs as of August 2020. Perhaps the most famous one took place on Saturday, 6 November 1976, when Ghanaian
David Kotei, the
World Boxing Council's world Featherweight champion, lost his championship to future
International Boxing Hall of Fame member, Mexican-American
Danny Lopez by a 15 rounds unanimous decision. This program also featured a bout between undefeated, 29–0 prospect
Sulley Shittu and Felix Figueroa, which Shittu won by 8 rounds decision. The crowd for this event has been estimated at over 100,000 fans. The Sports hall at the stadium is the Dayaram Gangaram Hathiramani Sports Hall, named after
D. G. Hathiramani who was influential in establishing table tennis in Ghana. ==See also==