Former Black Stars coach Kwesi Appiah has urged the Ghana Football Association to sit down and critically analyse what is going on with the sport after the Black Stars failed to qualify for AFCON 2025.
Appiah led Sudan to qualify for the tournament at the expense of the Black Stars, finishing second in Group F of the qualifiers.
The veteran trainer, who is also a member of the FA’s Executive Committee, believes it is time for the FA to re-examine football in Ghana.
“It’s really unfortunate because everybody thought Ghana will have qualified,” Appiah told the BBC
“In 2014, I was taking Ghana to the World Cup in Brazil, and I made a statement that football is coming of age.
“The whole FA needs to sit down and analyse and check what is really going on.”
“I was executive member of the Ghana FA and while Ghana was involved with our group, I was told to step aside because of a conflict of interest, and I did.
“Once you are a professional, you look at where you’re working. If Ghana is not rising up to the occasion, there’s nothing I can do.
“I need to be 100% professional and make sure the country I’m coaching qualify [for] either the Afcon or the World Cup.”
Appiah also has some sympathy for current Ghana head coach Otto Addo.
“Ghana is like England. If England does not qualify for Europe or the World Cup, it’s a big, big issue,” he said.
“Once you take that job, you need to add that pressure on top of it. Ghana not going to Afcon is a big, big, big deal.”