Kurt Explains Appiah Axing

Kurt Okraku

Ghana Football Association (GFA) President Kurt Okraku has attributed the non-competitiveness on the part of the various national technical teams as the reason for dissolving it.

The decision to dissolve the technical teams has generated heated argument among the football family.  

And explaining what accounted for the Executive Council (ExCo) decision, the new GFA boss said on Joy FM that ExCo arrived at the decision because the national teams have not been competitive.

 “We have not been as competitive as we want to be in all our national levels. We need to find ways to be competitive, bring the love back and bring the teams back into the finals and in the end, win trophies. This is what the council also aims to achieve. That is why this was done,” the GFA chief said.

Black Stars coach Kwesi Appiah and his assistant Charles Kwabla (CK) Akonnor, Mercy Tagoe-Quarcoo (Black Queens) and Ibrahim Tanko (Black Meteors) are some of the casualties following the decision.

Also affected by the decision are Yaw Preko (Black Satellites coach), Evans Adotey (Black Maidens coach), Yusif Basigi (Black Princesses coach) and Samuel Boadu (U-15 coach).

 He cited the national U-20 men’s team exit from the Africa U-20 Cup of Nations at the group stage last January, the Black Stars exit from the Africa Cup of Nations at the last 16 stage in June as typical examples.

Last October, the Black Queens missed out on qualification to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. The Black Stars B failed to defend their WAFU Cup of Nations crown, losing in the final to Senegal.

The Black Meteors rounded off the disappointment in November when they failed to qualify for the Olympic Games after finishing fourth at the Africa U-23 Cup of Nations in Egypt.

Meanwhile, spokesperson of the GFA, Tamimu Issah, has also said, “If you look at our national teams, many of them ? their coaches especially ? were given two-year engagements. And their two-year engagements have come to an end.
 So in line with the vision of the new administration of the Ghana Football Association, it was decided there should be a clean bill for all the national teams and then they will evaluate the situation and then will come out with a decision on the way forward.”

By Kofi Owusu Aduonum