The Ghana Football Association (GFA) is going to hunt for coach Avram Grant’s replacement, after the Black Stars failed to reach the final of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon when his current deal expires in February.
Below are the leading candidates for the Black Stars coaching job
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Herve Renard
The French man who worked under Claude Le Roy as Physical Trainer of Ghana around 2007 is in pole position to land the Black Stars job to succeed Avram Grant.
Renard has not hidden his interest in the Ghana coaching job, as he reportedly said he can’t turn down an offer to coach the Black Stars, despite working as the head coach of Morocco.
All Ghanaians would embrace his appointment, because they believe Herve is a master tactician and he is a result oriented coach and he has even proven to be a tough customer for the Black Stars on two the occasions his team played against the West African powerhouse on the big stage: He handled Zambia to beat Ghana in 2012 and in 2015 with Ivory Coast. That was the more reasons why most Ghanaian were excited over the defeat of the Black against against the Pharaohs of Egypt, since it enabled Avram Grant’s side to place second behind Egypt and consequently avoided Morocco coached by Renard in the quarter-finals.
Micho
Milutin ‘Micho’ Sredojevic, the coach of the Cranes of Uganda has been linked with the Black Stars coaching job. Micho has also expressed interest in the job and he seems to know much about the current Black Stars team.
Micho has been the coach of the Cranes of Uganda since 2013 and guided them to qualify for their first Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in 42 years. His side have won one, lost one and drawn two of their last outings against the Black Stars of Ghana.
What makes him a likely candidate for the job is the fact that Serbian coaches over the years have fared well with the Black Stars- Ratomoir Djukovic and Milovan Rajevac qualified Ghana for their maiden and second FIFA World Cups respectively in 2006 and 2010, so there is this belief that another Serbian could turn things around for the Black Stars now that they are struggling to churn out the results.
Milutin ‘Micho’ Sredojevic’s side managed just a point in group D of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon in a group that had Ghana, Egypt and Mali, they however put up one of the best displays in the AFCON.
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Ibrahim Tanko
He is a former Black Stars and Dortmund player, who has got experience with national team coaching. Tanko was handed his maiden coaching job in 2011 as the assist coach of Volke Finke at FC Köln, before joining his boss to Cameroon as the assistant coach of the Indomitable Lions. He has been contributing his quota to the national teams of Ghana and been scouting for the Ghana Football Association.
Kwesi Appiah
The former Black Stars skipper was the first indigene to qualify Ghana for the FIFA World Cup. Under his watch, Ghana reached the semi-finals of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in South Africa.
Kwesi Appiah was sacked after the Black Stars failed to qualify from the group stage in the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, amidst player boycott for delay in the payment of appearance fees.
Appiah joined Khartoum FC in Sudan and he has transformed the team into a winsome side, having promoted most of their youngsters into the senior team. He was named the best coach in the Sudanese League last season and that has made some of the top officials of the Ghana Football Association to consider re-appointing him as the coach of the Black Stars.
Kwesi Appiah has also made it clear that he would accept a return into the Black Stars should the GFA table down an offer for his services.
Maxwell Konadu
He has been with the Black Stars since 2012 and is one of the longest serving assistant coaches of the team in recent years. As of now Konadu should have the guts to head the technical team of the Black Stars should the lots fall on him to take the Black Stars to AFCON 2017, after having served under two technical brains-Kwesi Appiah and Avram Grant
Maxwell Konadu is an ambitious coach, winning the Ghana Premier league with Asante Kotoko in the 2011-12 season. He joined the team as the assistant coach of Bogdan Korak, but eventually became the head coach and built a Kotoko side that would reign the domestic league for three consecutive seasons. Like Kwesi Appiah, who was surprising handed the job when he was an assistant, Maxwell Konadu has also got what it takes to lead the team.
Moreover, Konadu is the darling boy of the GFA president, Kwesi Nyantakyi, so working together won’t be an issue, since he worked for him at Wa All Stars, as the head coach.
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Milovan Rajevac
The Serbian trainer whose tenure saw Ghana attain their best feat in the history of the FIFA World Cup- reached the quarter-finals and equalled the best feat achieved by an African side in the Mundial. Under his watch, Ghana reached the final of the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations in Angola. He recently parted ways with Algeria, so he is now available.