Football - Ghana: Appiah, Hervé Renard... four profiles to replace Otto Addo

In this emergency, three names are already emerging for the succession of Otto Addo whose second passage on the Ghanaian bench will have been cataclysmic, with a failed AFCON 2025, which is a first for the Black Stars in 20 years.

James Kwesi Appiah
This is the first name that has appeared in the Ghanaian press in recent hours, since the announcement of the departure of Addo and his staff. According to the Ghanaian journalist Gary Al-Smith, James Kwesi Appiah would be the favorite to succeed Otto Addo on the bench of the Black Stars. The latter has already trained Ghana twice (2012-2014 and 2017-2020) and has a great knowledge of Ghanaian football having also been a former international. He is the one who led the Black Stars to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Since 2023, he has been doing a great job at the head of Sudan with which he came close to qualifying for this World Cup, putting Senegal and DR Congo in difficulty for a long time in the elimination phase. Today, Appiah appears as a logical and credible candidate to take over the leadership of the Ghana national team.  If he is still under contract with Sudan, the call of the homeland could transcend the conviction of his project with the Falcons of Jediane.

Hervé Renard
If Kwesi Appiah is at the top of the list of potential successors to Otto Addo, Hervé Renard is also a name that may interest the GFA. The French technician is no longer to be presented on the continent where he won two African Cup of Nations with two different countries, Zambia in 2012 and Ivory Coast in 2015. He also has the experience of the World Cup, with a historic victory against Argentina in 2022 in Qatar.

Currently posted in Saudi Arabia, he is also in the hot seat and has never hidden his desire to return to Africa. '... I know that I will return to Africa one day. When they send me back, maybe, or when I have to go back there. It’s fate that will choose. And then I hope to be at the head of a selection for the 2034 World Cup, which will take place here. I will only be 66 or 67 years old, it’s okay," he said last October in an interview given to L'Equipe. After the friendly defeat (0-4) last week against Egypt, a new setback tonight (16h GMT) against Serbia could cost him his position.

Walid Regragui
Finally, the other coach on the market who knows African football well is Walid Regragui. A month after his departure from Morocco, the 50-year-old technician has not yet bounced back on a bench. Moreover, according to Saudi Sports Channel, he would be courted by Saudi Arabia who would look for a replacement for Hervé Renard.

Half-finalist of the 2022 World Cup, first and only African coach to do it then finalist of the AFCON 2025, Walid Regragui has high level experience and knows how to make a team win in an international competition. It could be an excellent option for the Ghana Black Stars, housed in Group L of the World Cup, alongside Panama, England and Croatia.

Tom Saintfiet
To these names, one can also add that of Tom Saintfiet, currently working in Mali but who dreams of the Black Stars' bench. The Belgian even revealed last September that he had discussed with the Federation before Otto Addo’s return to his position. 

It’s true that at that moment, after , around the AFCON (2023 in Côte d'Ivoire where he led Gambia), there were discussions... but I had the feeling of being close to the position of Black Stars' coach. I spoke for about four hours, I believe in total, with the Ghanaian Federation, with Kurt [Okraku] and Mark [Addo, the president and vice-president]... but in the end, they decided to choose another coach," he was letting out, as reported by My Joy Online. However, the fact that he has never participated in a World Cup does not plead in his favor.

Before this crucial date, the future coach will have two friendly matches to prepare his team and lay the foundations of his ideology, against Mexico (22 May) and Wales (2 June).