Mighty Blackpool: Sierra Leone’s most successful football team

When somebody says “Blackpool” most people in the UK will think of the seaside town in the north of England.
Football fans may think of Blackpool FC, with supporters of a certain age remembering the club as a big side back in the 50’s and 60’s and the winner of that magnificent FA Cup. Younger fans may think of a League One and Championship side that had a fantastic season in the Premier League in 2010/11.

If you were to ask this question in the Republic of Sierra Leone, a country on the West coast of Africa with a population of 7 million people, you’d likely receive a completely different answer.

Mighty Blackpool F.C.

Mighty Blackpool F.C are a Sierra Leonean football club based in the capital of Freetown. They play in the Sierra Leone National Premier League, the top division in the country.
Mighty Blackpool play their games at the National Stadium of Sierra Leone, named the Siaka Stevens Stadium with an impressive capacity of 36,000.

The team have taken the same colours as their English counterparts. The club badge is tangerine and white whilst their home kit has been tangerine and white, and tangerine and black over the years.

The history of the club stretches back to 1923, when it was founded under the name Socro United. United changed their name to Mighty Blackpool in 1954 to show their admiration for the former Blackpool and England player Sir Stanley Matthews.

Matthews is regarded as one of the greatest players in the English game and was the first winner of the European Footballer of the Year. Nicknamed ‘The Wizard of the Dribble’, Matthews played in the 1953 FA Cup Final in which Blackpool beat Bolton Wanderers 4-3. Tangerines centre forward Stanley Mortensen scored the the first and, to date, only Hat trick at a Wembley FA Cup final. However it was the performance of Matthews that stole the headlines and the 1953 FA Cup final is commonly known as the ‘Matthews Final’.

How well known Matthews and Blackpool were in Sierra Leone in the early 1950s is unclear, however the 1953 FA Cup Final is arguably the most famous in history and was broadcast in full on the BBC World Service. It’s therefore believed that the decision to change Socro United‘s name to Mighty Blackpool was made following Matthews’ brilliant performance in the final.

They have gone on to become the oldest and most successful football club in Sierra Leone. There is some debate around official league and cup statistics in Sierra Leone due to an official national league only being formed in 1980. There were attempts to crown champions before 1980 however they are sometimes considered unofficial.

Mighty Blackpool Honours

Western Area (Champions of the Western Area around Freetown, a competition which took place from 1923-1980, although it may have continued on for a few seasons into the mid 1980s as a qualifying competition, this unfortunately is unknown) :
– 1955
– 1962
– 1963
– 1966
– 1967
– 1974
– 1976
– 1978

Sierra Leonean FA Cup:
– 1965
– 1970
– 1983 (this is unknown however Mighty Blackpool were the team that qualified for the African Club World Cup)
– 1988
– 1994
– 2000

League Champions:
– 1968
– 1988
– 1991 (league abandoned but club awarded the title)
– 1996
– 1998
– 2000
– 2001

Mighty Blackpool have appeared in a number of Confederation of African Football (CAF) competitions, however haven’t had the same level of success as they have in domestic competitions. Their best finish being in the African Cup of Champions Clubs in 1989, where they exited the competition in the Quarter- Finals.

African Cup of Champions Clubs (CAF Champions League):
1968- Withdrew in Preliminary Round
1975- First Round
1979- First Round
1980- First Round
1989- Quarter-Finals
1992- First Round

CAF Confederation Cup:
2006- Preliminary Round

CAF Cup Winners’ Cup:
1984- First Round
1994- Second Round
2008- Second Round

Mighty Blackpool haven’t had much success at all since the late 1990s/ early 2000s and football in Sierra Leone has been filled with issues over the last 5 years due to corruption allegations, disputes and a number of teams boycotting the league since 2013.

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