Ghana Appoint Addo, Hughton to Lead Black Stars against Eagles

Duro Ikhazuagbe

After weeks of going back and forth on who succeeds sacked Milovan Rajevac as Black Stars next manager, Ghana Football Association (GFA) yesterday confirmed the appointment of former Borussia Dortmund defender, Otto Addo, as Head Coach.

Addo is to lead the Black Stars in the all important two-leg 2022 World Cup playoffs against Nigeria’s Super Eagles next month.

According to the statement from the GFA, former Newcastle and Brighton manager, Chris Hughton has also been appointed to serve as technical advisor.

Serbian Rajevac was sacked following Ghana’s embarrassing early exit from the Africa Cup of Nations finals in Cameroon last month.

Barely 24 hours earlier, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) had similarly announced the retention of Augustine Eguavoen as interim Technical Adviser,

former Nigerian Under-17 World Cup winning coach, Emmanuel Amuneke was also drafted to reinforce the team as Head Coach.

The two west African rivals will meet at the Cape Coast Stadium on March 24 in the first leg of the playoffs with Abuja hosting the reverse fixture on March 27.

The winner of the two-legged encounter will join the other four winners of the playoffs as Africa’s representatives at the World Cup in Qatar in December.

Addo, 46, is an assistant coach at German Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund, where he focuses on youth development.

German-born but a former Ghana international, Addo played at Dortmund and Mainz 05 and has previously been on the coaching staff at Hamburg and Borussia Moenchengladbach.

Addo will be assisted by former Dutch international George Boateng, another with Ghanaian roots who is a youth team coach at his former club Aston Villa, and Didi Dramani, who worked at FC Nordsjaelland in Denmark.

Hughton as technical advisor without specific role will also be part of the coaches to guide the Black Stars during the playoffs.

Hughton went to the 1990 World Cup with Ireland in his playing days.

Nigeria on Tuesday reversed a decision to appoint the Portuguese-born Jose Peseiro as replacement for Rohr.