Koufie sticks to his guns

Ghana FA (GFA) chairman Ben Koufie said the association will not rule out the possibility of recruiting a foreign coach for the Black Stars. The GFA's ambition goes against the view of sports minister Osei Kwaku, who believes a local coach is capable of managing the side.

"We have spelt out the reasons why we want a foreign coach," Koufie told BBC Sport Online.

"When we asked for an expatriate coach some months ago, the minister put our case to government and up to this point it has not disapproved of what we are doing.

"You may now think that (with the minister's opposition) we are fighting a losing battle but the association does not see it that way."

Koufie insists that the sports minster's view is not that of the Ghanaian government, which would have to foot the expatriate manager's salary bill.

"The minister has only given his personal opinion.

"We have a disagreement but there is no personal problem between us," Koufie said.

Two local and two foreign coaches have been shortlisted for the job, from a field of 16 applicants.

They are the current caretaker coach Abdul Razak, E.K Afranie, Burkhard Ziese, a past German coach of the Black Stars and Portuguese Manuel Gomes.

"The four coaches would be interviewed between 31 January and 4 February and one would be recommended for employment.

"What we would be examining now would be their reliability and credibility," Koufie said.

... And Promises Clean Race In Selection Of Stars Coach

Ben Koufie says the GFA would not countenance competence in the selection of a coach for the senior national team, the Black Stars.

Mr. Koufie told myjoyonline.com that the football association would carefully study the credentials of the coaches short-listed and make a decision based on nothing but merit.

There has been growing concern that the Ghana Football Association would hand the converted job to Portuguese Manuel Gomes because he is backed by official kit sponsor L-Sporto. L-Sporto by their sponsorship agreement with the FA would sponsor 40 per cent of the coach’s salary if they help the FA find one.

That has raised concerns that the FA would be hiring a man based on other reasons than competence. Mr. Koufie appreciates the concerns but insist that it is without any basis.

“I can understand why the speculation. People have heard Gomes is sponsored by L-Sporto who are our official kit sponsors and who would fund part of the coach’s salary so for many people that’s it.

“But we won’t hesitate to tell L-Sporto we don’t want their man if we don’t deem him fit for it. We are running checks on the coaches from their former employers, UEFA, FIFA and anywhere possible. We are not taking chances”.

Ghana’s last association with a foreign coach ended in disaster when the Yugoslav Milan Zivadinovic went AWOL after only three months in charge. Ziva had a record of absconding from two other jobs in Yugoslavia and Iran so the FA came in for a lot of flack for not running due diligence on his background.

Koufie says that incident would guide them. Gomes is one of four coaches short-listed for an interview between January 31- February 3. The others are local coaches E.K Afranie who is currently acting coach of the Black Stars, Abdul Razak, 1978 African Footballer of the Year and former Black Stars coach Burkhard Ziese.