Soccer News of Wednesday, 12 January 2011

Source: GNA

"Support Stevanovic to succeed"- Nyantakyi

Accra, Jan. 12, GNA - The President of the Ghana Football Association, (GFA) Kwesi Nyantakyi, has charged the nation to support new Black Stars coach Goran Stevanovic to succeed and ensure that the Serb is in charge of affairs.

"It is important to support Stevanovic to succeed because whether you wanted him or someone else to lead the Black Stars, he is the one in charge and we must all support him."

Nyantakyi cited the Black Stars brand as a good one which will need every support to soar; emphasizing that without the needed support, the one in charge will not be able to drive the dream of success.

The President who said these at the introduction of the Serb as

the new Black Stars coach in Accra on Wednesday, explained that

the GFA has signed a two-year renewable contract with the former

Partizan Belgrade trainer which will be at the instance of the

Federation. Nyantakyi outlined the qualification and winning of the 2012

and 2013 African Cup of Nations competitions in Gabon and

Equatorial Guinea and Libya as some of the indicators that will be

used as the measuring rod during the two-year period. "We have agreed an initial two years contract with an option of

another two year renewal at the instance of the GFA. We expect

him to qualify us to the 2012 and 2013 Nations Cup and to win

them. If some or all the targets are not achieved, there will be an

appraisal which will take into consideration circumstances that

might have come to play." Stevanovic who becomes the third Serbian to manage the Black

Stars in six years coached Partizan Belgrade to the Serbian League

title last season. The 44-year old trainer was one of five coaches short-listed to

replace Milovan Rajevac which included former France World

Cup winner Marcel Desailly, Aduana Stars coach, Herbert Addo

and former Portugal manager Humberto Coelho. Stevanovic, a Yugoslav international spent most of his playing

career at Partizan Belgrade before spells at Clubs in Spain,

Portugal and Greece.