Ex-Ghana international Fatau Dauda agrees record deal for Sudan national team job

Ex-Ghana goalkeeper Fatau Dauda has agreed to a life-changing deal with the Sudanese national team to be their goalkeeper’s trainer, GHANAsoccernte.com can exclusively reveal.

Dauda currently combines being a coach at the famous Right to Dream Academy and the Ghana national under-20 team where he’s excelled in a short time and caught the attention of some of the game’s best brains.

Coincidentally, Dauda was Ghana’s first-choice goalkeeper when new Sudan coach James Kwesi Appiah was the head coach of the Black Stars and both have kept in touch as Dauda has had to re-educate himself and adapt since hanging up his gloves two seasons ago.

Having risen from Madina, one of the poorest suburbs in Accra, the capital of Ghana, the now 38-year-old cut his teeth with Okwahu United before a spell at Ashanti Gold S.C propelled him to Soweto giants Orlando Pirates at the peak of his career.

By the summer of 2014, Dauda was one of the most famous Ghanaian goalkeepers home and abroad and became the second most-capped Ghanaian goalkeeper at the World Cup, a feat that was only recently bettered by Lawrence Ati-Zigi with former Birmingham City goalkeeper Richard Kingson as the number one to have kept most games at the highest level of football.

In a career of ultimate inspiration, Dauda's ability to overcome adversity was on display be it at the World Cup or the AFCON and when it was nearly over, he quickly jumped at the opportunity of being a coach when the sun set on his playing days. But not before he played 26 times for his country and more than 223 games at club level.

Sources close to GHANAsoccernet and the Sudanese FA say they have studied the data and see Dauda as the right man to help Appiah and will offer a staggering $770,000-a-year in wages to the former goalkeeper.

He will instantly become the second-highest-earning Ghanaian coach in the world only behind Appiah who is reported to be on a $1.5m deal. No Ghanaian coach home or abroad even comes close to earning those figures.

Sudan are expected to be based in Saudi Arabia and will most likely play their games there or in Egypt as they embark on a journey to qualify for the next AFCON and the World Cup.