GFA sacks Milovan Rajevac, new Black Stars coach to be named

• Posted on January 27, 2022January 27, 2022
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

The Ghana Football Association (GFA) has sacked Black Stars head coach Coach Milovan Rajevac following Ghana’s absymal showing at the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament in Cameroun.

The FA’s Executive Council took the decision to part ways with the Serbian (affectionately called Milo) after deliberating on the coach’s technical report, the medical report and the report from the Black Stars Management Committee on Ghana’s first round exit from the AFCON.

Ghana finished bottom of Group E with just one point after losses to Morocco and Comoros and a draw with Gabon, failing to advance to the knockout phase of the competition – the team’s worst ever record in the history of Africa’s flagship tournament.

The FA’s Executive Council, after considering the three reports and engagements with key stakeholders, decided to end its relationship with Rajevac and also decided that the team’s management committee headed by Mr George Amoako be reconstituted.

The FA’s decision Wednesday night (January 26, 2022) was in line with a directive by the Minister of Youth and Sports, Mr Mustapha Ussif, who at an emergency meeting with the GFA leadership and the Black Stars technical team at the Jubilee House last Friday, that the football governing body dispenses with the services of the head coach and also dissolve the management committee.

New technical team

In a statement Wednesday night (January 26, 2022), the FA said it would soon announce a reconstituted technical team and management committee of the Black Stars after engagements with all relevant stakeholders.

The Black Stars next play is against the Super Eagles of Nigeria in a two-leg 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying playoff in March to choose Africa’s five representatives at the World Cup in Qatar in November.

Rajevac’s dismissal after 124 days in charge of the national team marks an ignominious exit of the man who masterminded Ghana’s best ever World Cup performance, having led Ghana to the quarter-final of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Months earlier, the 68-year-old Rajevac led Ghana to the final of the 2010 AFCON in Angola.

Rajevac’s record

During his first stint, Rajevac spent 818 days on the job [August 13, 2008 to November 9, 2010] during which he guided Ghana to the final of the inaugural African Nations Championship (the continental competition for home-based African players) in 2009 in Cote d’Ivoire.

In 28 matches in charge, he won 12, drew four and lost 12 games.

Last September, he was appointed as replacement for Coach Charles Kwablan Akonnor midway into Ghana’s 2022 FIFA World Cup group qualifying competition and won back-to-back games against Zimbabwe, drew away to Ethiopia and beat South Africa in Cape Coast as Ghana topped the group on goal difference to earn a playoff spot.

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