Ghana on May 9 marked 25 years since the 2001 Accra Sports Stadium disaster, with the May 9th Foundation honouring the 126 lives lost in the country’s deadliest sporting tragedy.
The 2001 disaster unfolded during a top flight football match between Accra Hearts of Oak and Kumasi Asante Kotoko, when crowd violence and the police response triggered panic inside the stadium and a stampede that left at least 126 dead and many more injured.
“There are things that we can’t erase from our minds,” said Herbert Mensah, former Asante Kotoko chairman and current President of Rugby Africa, reflecting on what May 9 has meant to him and to the country.
Mensah, who has led the May 9th Foundation since its founding, said the commemoration has grown into a sustained movement of memory, advocacy, and direct support for vulnerable families and children rather than a single annual event.
That work now stretches well beyond remembrance. In partnership with the Shen Yang and Shen Yuet Children’s Heart Foundation, more than 110 Ghanaian children with septal defects have received fully funded heart surgeries, many of whom would otherwise have been beyond reach because of poverty.
The annual commemoration draws together schools, football communities, civic groups, and victims’ relatives from across Ghana, with events anchored in both Kumasi and Accra. The foundation has also extended its reach abroad, exchanging moments of reflection with families from the Ellis Park stadium disaster in South Africa and other communities touched by similar tragedies.
The initiative is sustained by a mix of corporate and philanthropic supporters, including Kivo, Interplast, the Sunda Group, GB Foods, Melcom, and contributions from hospitality figure Kwabena Kesse, who have funded mobility aids, essential supplies, medical assistance, and broader humanitarian programmes.
For Mensah, the 25 year milestone is less about closing a chapter than widening the circle of those who remain seen and supported. He has appealed to corporate Ghana, philanthropic partners, and citizens to deepen their backing of the foundation’s logistics, family support programmes, and travel costs for relatives who continue to attend the commemoration each year.
Further information on supporting the May 9th Foundation is available at www.may9thfoundation.org.
