GFA appoints Chris Hughton as new Black Stars head coach

• Posted on February 13, 2023February 13, 2023
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

The Ghana Football Association (GFA) has announced the appointment of Chris Hughton as the new head coach of the Black Stars.

A statement from the Ghana FA said Hughton will be assisted by George Boateng and Mas-Ud Didi Dramani.

The former Republic of Ireland international served as technical advisor under erstwhile Ghana coach Otto Addo during the Qatar 2022 World Cup and now replaces the latter at the helm.

Hughton’s managerial career has seen him manage at different levels, including previously serving under different managers at Tottenham, where he combined his role with being an assistant coach of the Republic of Ireland.

In 2008, he was announced as the first-team coach of Newcastle United under Kevin Keegan. By September that year, he was made caretaker manager following Keegan’s exit.

He was later appointed as Newcastle’s permanent manager after their relegation to the Championship and he guided them to gain promotion back to the Premier League at the first attempt.

Hughton has since managed Birmingham City, Norwich City, Brighton and Hove Albion and Nottingham Forest, in what has been a great managerial career thus far.

And winning Premier League promotion with Newcastle ranks among his best achievements. At Birmingham City, he led the team to the group stages of the Europa League, and guided Norwich City to an 11th-place finish in the 2012/13 Premier League season.

Hughton was also the manager who led Brighton to gain Premier League promotion for the first time in the club’s history and reached the FA Cup semi-final with the Seagulls.

The last club the 64-year-old managed was Nottingham Forest, but was dismissed in September 2021 following a slow start to the Championship season.

The Ghana Football Association has the pleasure to appoint Chris Hughton as Head Coach of the Black Stars following extensive deliberations between the two parties.

The appointment is in line with the vision of the GFA to continue with the project of building a formidable squad that started with Otto Addo in the lead up to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 tournament.

Mr. Hughton has been the Technical Advisor of the Black Stars for the past twelve months.

The GFA has also decided to maintain Assistant Coaches George Boateng and Mas-Ud Didi Dramani.

The three coaches were part of the technical team for the World Cup in Qatar.

Details about the duration of the contract and terms of engagement would be announced in due course.