In 1999, a club was born in the community of Basake in the Ellembelle District of the Western Region and today, after a 25-year absence in the Ghana’s topflight, the small club from Basake is a household name in the Ghanaian topflight football.
Owned by a vibrant immigration officer and the current chairman of the Western Regional Football Association ( WRFA) Hon.Simon Ehomah, the club has a modest stadium capacity of just 6,000 ( Crosby Awuah Memorial Park, CAM Park). Basake Holy Stars is economically dwarfed by its competition and structure.
So how did this minnow club climb the daunting ladder and make it to Ghana’s top division ?
According to the President of the Club, Hon.Simon Ehomah revealed this during an exclusive interview with Domesticsportsgh.com in the local Nzema dialect that”
Nyamɛnlɛ Wua Yɛkɛ Wu” (literally means “Since God lives we live).
This has been their motivational message and has inspired them from their days in Division Two to its glory days.
With a silver jubilee under the ownership of Holy Stars Group of Companies, the football club has remodeled its transfer, leadership and player development strategy on the foundations of data monitoring each day by the club’s top hierarchy.
Alongside its strategy player and management recruitment, Basake Holy Stars has restructured its academy and created a good alliance with other teams to cut costs and lose prodigies to wealthier clubs.
Having first played in the Sub Middle League in 2014/15 season, the Basake based club have been active in the lower tier football before appearing in the regional front page for winning Western Region Super Middle League final in 2020/21 season.
It took Holy Stars just three seasons to make it to Ghana’s topflight football leaving other elite clubs like Sekondi Hasacaas, Eleven Wise, Swedru All Blacks, Nzema Kotoko, Vipers, Edubaise in the football darkness.
Historically, Basake Holy Stars participation in the ongoing 2024/25 Ghana Premier League Season, has becomes the Western Region’s 9th football club and 67th Club to play in the Ghanaian league since 1956.
The Western Region has already tasted the Ghana Premier League from its early days in 1958 with the inclusion of Sekondi Eleven Wise, Hasacaas and Great Indeces ( Independence) a club that was famously owned by the late business tycoon Blay Miezah.
Prestea Mines Stars, Medeama SC, Wassaman United, Bibiani GoldStars, Karela United, Samartex and just recently Basake Holy Stars are the only clubs from the Western Region to play in the league since its inception.
Another piece of Holy Stars’ puzzle was the supporting base across the entire Nzema land after Karela United announced their intention to relocate the club to the northern part of Ghana.
Apart from supporting base and buying young players who are hungry to prove themselves, Holy Stars has pioneered “no fear approach ” a technique with specialist and young gaffer Abdulai Gazale at the helm.
They have found margins to win tight game out of nothing, a clear example of the victory against Hearts of Oak in match day one.
Currently as the middle table team with 4 points after 3 games as debutant, the club’s obsession with detail and planning should inspire many throughout Nzema land in particular big club like Nzema Kotoko whose finances are very encouraging as compared to Basake Holy Stars.
For Basake Holy Stars, their journey into the Ghana Premier League has just begun, but its clear that the “unbeatable lads” are clearly here to stay.
With a monthly expenditure around GHC85,000, the Basake Holy Stars are one of the low paid teams in the 2024/25 Ghana Premier League Season.