Afranie Applies For Black Stars Job

As intense cold war rages between the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Ghana Football Association (GFA) over the citizenship of the choice of coach for the senior national team, the Black Stars, caretaker coach, Emmanuel Kwasi Afranie has officially joined the race for the job.

Mr. Afranie last Wednesday beat the January 15 deadline set by the FA when he submitted his application to the GFA as the 12th application for the job.

Afranie is the fifth Ghanaian to have joined the race for the highly sensitive Black Stars job and his application ends months of speculation about his interest in the top job.

The other Ghanaian coaches interested in the job are, former Black Stars players, Abdul Razak, Mohammed Polo and James Adjei, as well as one Nana Kwaku Agyeman.

The foreign applicants include a former head coach of the senior national team, Burkhard Ziese of Germany, Letard Christian of France, Desaeyere Rene of Belgium, Manuel Goncalves Gomes of Portugal and Ronald Duncan of Scotland.

The rest are W.H. Leushuis of the Netherlands and Richard Alan Feriss of New Zealand.

According to a Graphic Sports report, Mr. Afranie who is no new person to the beleaguered national team, thinks he is experienced enough to be entrusted with the job.

Afranie told the paper that his decision to formally apply for the job was guided by very careful consideration and after several discussions with well-meaning people.

According to him, he has no doubt that he can handle the job since he does not only have the qualification but also the necessary experience to surmount the challenge that comes with the job.

“I have been through it all at all the levels of the national scene and strongly believe that the time has come for us to take charge of our own affairs. We have tried several foreign coaches; they have not helped us that much with regard to making any meaningful impact on the international scene. I however, believe that I have what it takes and with the support of all, I know we would realize our dream of making an appearance at the World Cup,” he said.

The coach who has had a long spell with Ghana football, spanning a period of over two decades, has coached both clubs and national teams and thinks that just as he led the Black Queens to qualify for their first World Cup appearance in 1999, he could guide the Stars to a world cup berth.

Asked if he is ready to resign his present job as the technical director at the ministry of youth and sports, he said that is a matter between him and his employers, which will be, resolved when he gets the job.

He also denied that his present job is going to bring a conflict of interest in influencing the decision-makers to appoint him since the ministry has no direct say in the appointment of national team coaches. At best, they only act as advisory bodies,” he opined.

As the man who has been in charge of the team since September 2002, coach Afranie is entering the race for the formal job with perhaps the richest credentials among all the candidates.

He has handled almost all the national teams – the Stars, Queens (female national team), Satellites (Under-20 team) and the Starlets (Under-17).

With the Stars, he and Mr. Osam Duodu assisted C.K. Gyamfi to Ghana’s last Nation’s Cup victory in 1982 and were in charge when the team failed to successfully defend the title in Cote d’Ivoire in 1984.

He also made history by leading the female national team to their silver-medal feat at the maiden African Women’s Nations Cup in Nigeria in 1998 and their subsequent qualification for the 1999 Women’s World Cup in the USA.

The 59-year-old coach, affectionately called “Coachhene” by most of his colleagues, also had a successful stint with the Satellites whom he led to win silver at the 2001 World Youth Championship in Argentina.

At the U-17 level, he qualified the 1991 squad for the Italy tournament and went on to win the World event as assistant to German Otto Pfister. He was, however, not that lucky when he again led the 1997 tam to the world fiesta in Egypt. He came back with a silver medal though.

His coaching background is complimented with an impressive training record. A training programme at Sportschule Wedau in Germany (1978), a refresher course with the FIFA Coca Cola International Academy in Lagos, Nigeria in 1995 and a CAF High Level Coaching course in 1987 and has attended several updated refresher courses all over Europe to be abreast with modern trends of the job.

Coach Afranie’s entry into the race for the Black Stars job has been described as interesting in the light of the seeming cold war between FA boss, Ben Koufie and Sports Minister, Edward Osei Kwaku (MP). His desire for the job would also see how the conflict between the FA who has the final word as far as employing coaches is concerned and the ministry who pays the coach, goes.

While the FA favours employing an expatriate coach, the ministry is spearheaded by the minister is in support of a local coach.

Mr. Osei-Kwaku, since the issue of appointing a new coach came up, has emphasized that he favours a local handler because the nation lacks the resources to pay the high wages of an expatriate coach. However, the FA says the ministry need not worry about the salary if that is the main concern.

The FA’s new sponsor, L’Sporto have agreed to bear about 40 per cent of the cost of hiring a top-class coach only if they are made part of the team that finally selects the coach.

The General Secretary of the FA, Kofi Nsiah said with the present dwindling fortunes of the national teams, it is imperative that a coach who can turn the Stars’ fortunes around is employed.

While he would not be dragged into the preference of the GFA between a local and a foreign coach, the FA scribe said it does not really matter who becomes the coach eventually, the most important thing is employing somebody who has what it takes to move the national team forward.

The committee charged to select the coach is expected to make thorough investigations into the background of all the applicants to ensure that the unfortunate incident with Yugoslav, Milan Zivadinovic does not occur again.

It would be recalled that Milan absconded from his job three months into a two-year agreement with the Ghanaian Football Authorities and made away with about 65 thousand dollars.