Otto Addo got job ‘through backdoor’

The Ghana Football Association is facing fresh scrutiny over how it handled the reappointment of Otto Addo, with a former Black Stars management committee member accusing the football body of bypassing its own processes to install the coach through unofficial channels.

Kudjoe Fianoo, speaking on Kessben Sports, did not mince his words. “If you look at how Otto got the Black Stars job, it even got to a point where he didn’t want the job again. We brought out a criteria to pick a new coach, and Otto Addo was appointed through a backdoor, which shows those running the football don’t have Ghanaians at heart,” he said.

Addo was reappointed in March 2024 on a 34-month contract, returning to the role he had previously held when he guided Ghana to the 2022 World Cup. He came back as a replacement for Chris Hughton, who was let go after a disappointing 2023 Africa Cup of Nations campaign. While Addo did secure qualification for the 2026 World Cup, his overall record of eight wins, five draws and nine defeats in 22 matches told a story of inconsistency that steadily eroded confidence in his tenure.

The end came on March 31, 2026, following a 2-1 friendly defeat to Germany in Stuttgart, a result that sealed his fate.

For Fianoo, the dismissal only reinforced a frustration that had been building for some time. He argued that the GFA had already missed an earlier opportunity to make a change when Addo failed to guide the team to the AFCON. “An opportunity came to fire him when he failed to qualify the team for the AFCON, but we played around,” he said.

With the GFA now expected to announce a new head coach in the coming days and the World Cup looming, the pressure is on football administrators to demonstrate that this time, the process will be done properly.

Source: myjoyonline.com