Ghana must bring greater stability to the Black Stars’ coaching position, according to former manager Chris Hughton, with the team facing two crucial 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Somalia.
The West Africans lost their opening Group C matches 2-0 to Ivory Coast in Bouake and 4-2 to The Gambia in Accra last month. Those results ended Carlos Queiroz’s second spell in charge, leaving Sweden’s Kim Bjorkegren to take temporary control of the men’s team.
Bjorkegren, who has managed the Black Queens since January 2025, will oversee the back-to-back fixtures against Somalia over the coming week.
“When you have inconsistency in the amount of time when a manager is staying, it’s never good,” Hughton told BBC Sport Africa.
“You want that consistency in the players [and] the players want that consistency in what they see in the manager.”
Queiroz, who twice served as Sir Alex Ferguson’s assistant at Manchester United, was first appointed in April. He guided Ghana to the last 32 of the Fifa World Cup, including a goalless draw with England, before leaving after a 1-0 defeat by Colombia.
Reappointed in early September, the 73-year-old lasted less than a month. The Ghana Football Association had highlighted his “extensive international experience”, which included spells with South Africa, Egypt, Portugal, Iran, Colombia, Qatar and Oman.
Hughton said Ghana’s performance at the World Cup, particularly against England, showed the team’s potential.
“What I saw in the World Cup is that they represented the country very well, particularly the England game,” he said. “And although it was very much a defensive outfit, there were opportunities to score.”
But the former Ghana boss warned that frequent managerial changes could affect the squad’s attitude, with players thinking: “If he (the coach) doesn’t do well then he won’t be there.”
Hughton’s own tenure lasted less than a year. Appointed technical director in February 2022, he became head coach in February 2023 and was dismissed in January 2024 after Ghana failed to reach the knockout stage of the 2023 Afcon in Ivory Coast.
He is one of five managers to lead Ghana in the past six years, alongside Charles Akonnor, Milovan Rajevac, Otto Addo and Queiroz. Addo had two spells in charge, while current Sudan manager Kwesi Appiah’s 33-month second stint, from April 2017 to January 2020, remains the longest since Fred Osam-Duodu in the late 1970s and early 80s.
Hughton believes under-investment has added to the challenge posed by increasingly strong African opposition. Ghana have not progressed beyond the second round of Afcon since 2017 and risk missing a second successive finals.
“Many years ago Ghana were at a level that was, if not the best team in Africa, certainly right up there,” said the 67-year-old. “There needs to be an injection of government money into the structure and into the system.”
He also called for better pitches, infrastructure and support for the domestic game, which once produced many of Ghana’s leading players.
Ghana’s World Cup record is stronger: they have reached five of the past six finals since debuting in Germany in 2006, making the knockout stage three times and the quarter-finals in South Africa in 2010.
They qualified for this year’s tournament in Canada, Mexico and the United States after losing only one of 10 matches under Addo. However, six players withdrew from the initial Afcon squad, including Antoine Semenyo, Mohammed Kudus, Jordan Ayew and Baba Rahman, with further replacements later pulling out.
“Whether that was a reason or not, I don’t know. And I probably don’t think so,” Hughton said. “You always want your best players.”
Chris Hughton was speaking to BBC Sport Africa at the Best of Africa Awards
