I’m surprised – GFA ExCo member on rumours linking Otto Addo to Black Stars job

In the quest for a new coach for the Black Stars, many reports have popped up insisting that Otto Addo is leading the race for the job.

This has astonished the Executive Council member of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), Fredrick Acheampong, as he doesn't know where that information is coming from.

The rumours are all the more surprising to him because the FA is responsible for the coach's appointment and not the search committee.

The Black Stars have been without a permanent coach since the dismissal of Chris Hughton and his technical team following a disappointing performance at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.

The team failed to advance beyond the group stages, drawing two games and finishing third in Group B, behind Cape Verde and Egypt.

"The appointment of the coach does not even stop with the search committee. This is from our level (the Executive Committee). The decision we made was that the search committee should draw up a shortlist of three coaches, so I was surprised to hear that Otto Addo is leading the race as if the search committee is in charge of appointing a coach.

"The search committee is expected to bring three coaches to the Executive Council for further discussions and checks before one person will be chosen amongst the three," he said in a Kessben FM interview monitored by Footballghana.com.

Otto, a Borussia Dortmund coaching staff member, was in charge of the Black Stars in 2022 and qualified Ghana for the 2022 FIFA World Cup with a win over Nigeria in the final playoff round.

He continued to handle the Black Stars until Ghana crashed out of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar at the end of the group stage on the back of two defeats and one win.

After Otto Addo left the role, the Ghana FA appointed coach Chris Hughton to be in charge of the Black Stars, but he failed to live up to expectations.