Abdul Razak applies for Black Stars job

• Posted on March 2, 2017
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

We can confirm that former African Footballer of the Year, Abdul Razak, affectionately called ‘Golden Boy’, has submitted his curriculum vitae to the Ghana Football Association (GFA) for the vacant Black Stars coaching job.

Razak, who previously coached Stade Malien, several Togolese clubs and had stints in Benin, thus becomes the first local coach to show a firm desire of taking over from Avram Grant.

The GFA has officially began the search for the next Black Stars coach after parting ways with Avram Grant who failed to win the Africa Cup of Nations in two attempts.

The Executive Committee of the GFA met yesterday to evaluate Grant’s tenure and also to deliberate on the criterion that will be used in selecting Avram Grant’s successor.

Razak’s decision to apply for the job comes as no surprise since there is a growing groundswell from respectable public officials that the GFA/ Sports Ministry should look at appointing a competent Ghanaian to take charge of the senior national team.

Media reports say over 60 applications have come in from some big names all seeking to take over from Avram Grant.

The GFA, through its spokesperson, Ibrahim Saani Daara, has, however, maintained that appointment of the next Black Stars coach will be solely based on competence and nothing else. 

Speaking on the Joy Sports Link last Saturday, Saani Daara minced no words in his disapproval of the nationality card being championed by some members of society.

“We at the GFA don’t think a call up to the national team or who becomes the next coach should be about where the person is coming from. It is about competence and nothing else. If the person is qualified and competent, it won’t matter where he is coming from. Let us not forget that there are Ghanaian coaches elsewhere too, what if those countries also say only local people should be allowed to play or coach?”

The GFA has been tight-lipped about the leading contenders for the job but in the immediate aftermath of the AFCON.

Uganda’s Serbian coach, Milutin ‘Micho’ Sredojevic, and Morocco’s French coach, Herve Renard, are seen are frontrunners.

Ghana will not play any competitive game until June, this year, when the qualifiers for the 2019 Cup of Nations begin.

By Daniel ODURO