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Ghana coach Otto Addo was forced to lay out his coaching credentials after his capacity to handle the Black Stars were questioned following their elimination from AFCON 2025 qualifiers.
Ghana coach Otto Addo was forced to explain his coaching credentials amid calls for him to resign after the Black Stars failed to qualify for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.
The West Africans hit a new low when they lost 2-1 to Niger on Monday, ending their qualification campaign bottom of their group and without a win, having lost three while drawing as many matches.
It leaves Black Stars fans licking their wounds but the heat has been turned on the former Ghana international who was reappointed the national team coach in March this year, ending his stint as assistant coach and scout at Bundesliga giants Borussia Dortmund.
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Engin Firat exuded confidence after Kenya topped their AFCON qualification group, sending a warning to Andre Onana and Cameroon, but once results went haywire, he became defensive.
Addo was at pains to explain what happened, insisting he will not resign while apologising to fans, but he took great exception from a journalist who questioned his coaching credentials.
“When I was 37, I started my C license. I worked in Hamburg as the under 19 coach. I started as an assistant as an under 19 coach, then five years later, I was the head coach of the under 19 in Hamburg afterwards,” Addo said.
“I went to Denmark first division as an assistant coach for one-and-a-half years as an assistant coach in the first division; afterwards, I went to Borussia Monchengladbach as an assistant coach and talent manager. And at that time, Kwasi Appiah [former Ghana coach] asked me to scout for him because Ghana was having Germany in their [2014 World Cup] group.
“I scouted for him in Germany because I was living in Germany, to show him their strengths and their weaknesses. So, I did this in 2014 for six months. I watched every match Germany played, to prepare, because we appeared for the World Cup in 2014 in Brazil. I did this for six months of scouting for Ghana.
“Nobody else asked me but I did that only for Ghana, I scouted for six months. During that time, also, I did my B license, I did my A license. For this, you always have to work in a certain position to be able to, it takes one year. After that, I did my UEFA Pro license as a coach.”
The coach was particularly not happy that he was termed a scout and not coach, hence not good enough for the Black Stars.
“And after that [scouting for Ghana in 2014], I went back to coaching. I went back to Borussia Monchengladbach first division as assistant coach, but also in charge of the talents,” he added.
“And then, because we brought some young guys up, Dortmund hired me back again, and I've been there for five years and I've been also like eight months because they hired one coach and I was the assistant coach in the coach. So, I started at 37, and now 49, it’s been 12 years of coaching and six months of scouting.”
Four-time African champions Ghana have failed to qualify for AFCON for the first time since the 2004 edition.
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