The Minister of Sports and Recreation, Kofi Adams, has revealed that he raised concerns about the Ghana Football Association’s (GFA) decision to retain Otto Addo as head coach of the Black Stars, despite the team’s failure to qualify for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Morocco.
The 49-year-old former Borussia Dortmund talent coach came under intense scrutiny and was a subject of criticism after failing to win a single game during the AFCON qualifiers.
The poor performance of the team led to football fans calling for his sack but the GFA retained him and improved the backroom staff ahead of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
However, speaking in an interview with 3Sports, the Minister disclosed that he made his position clear during a meeting with the GFA leadership and members of the Black Stars’ technical team.
“The FA brought the coach [Otto Addo] and other persons [technical team] to introduce them to me, and at that meeting, I raised all those issues [about their decision to keep the coach despite his failure to qualify for AFCON in Morocco],” he said.
Mr. Adams acknowledged that while the GFA responded to his concerns, he is still not fully convinced by their justification.
“They [GFA] gave me an answer. Am I satisfied? I will say time will tell, but I had my concerns, and those concerns, I registered them [at the meeting with GFA],” he added.
The member of Parliament for Buem constituency further noted that although he was unhappy with the situation, the timing of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers made it difficult to initiate any immediate changes to the technical setup.
“But I think at this moment, and at the time that I had become the Minister, the issue is we were too close to these [World Cup 2026] qualifiers [against Chad and Madagascar], and so the issue of changes should not be what should be on the table. That should be the last thing on the table,” he said.
“And so the issue on the table now is how to prepare the team for the task ahead of us.”
Kofi Adams further explained that removing Otto Addo at such a crucial time would have created a leadership vacuum, complicating the team’s preparations.
“Because if the agenda is to go and sack the head coach — if we sacked the head coach, who was going to take over immediately? You’re now going to be hunting for a new coach, and that may take you the entire period,” he stressed.
He said the focus, for now, is on supporting the current technical team to deliver results but hinted that the situation could be reviewed in the future.
“So it’s better to rally what you have, work with it, and make sure that you achieve success. If we have to revisit that story, we will visit it,” he said.
The Minister also spoke about recent additions to the technical team, including former Cameroon coach Winfried Schäfer, who has joined as Technical Director.
“There has been some beefing up. Winfried Schäfer has been added as Technical Director, and a few more other areas have been improved. Let’s see what it also injects into the discipline of play.”
Ghana will face Chad and Madagascar on March 21 and March 24 respectively in the Matchday five and six games of the qualifiers.
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