Selectionner of Ghana fired 73 days before the exclusive World Cup
Patrick Juillard, Media365: published on Tuesday, March 31, 2026 at 10:35 am
Selectionner of Ghana for two years, Otto Addo has been fired following a series of defeats in friendly matches as preparation for the World Cup, which the Black Stars will play without him next June.
The axe has fallen, without even waiting for sunrise. In the middle of the night, a few hours after a short defeat of the Black Stars against Germany (2-1), on Tuesday in Stuttgart in a friendly match as preparation for the 2026 World Cup, the public officially learned that Otto Addo was no longer the selectionner of Ghana.
« The Ghana Football Association (GFA) has parted ways with the head coach of the national senior men’s team (Black Stars), Otto Addo, with immediate effect. The association sincerely thanks Otto Addo for his contribution to the team and wishes him the best in his future endeavors », indicated the governing body, before specifying that it « will communicate regarding the new technical direction of the Black Stars in due course. »
Four consecutive friendly defeats
This thunderous dismissal comes less than three months before the World Cup, where Ghana will face Panama, England, and Croatia in Group L. Brutal, the decision follows a series of poor results in friendly matches, with defeats against Austria (5-1) last week, Japan (2-0), and South Korea (1-0) in November 2025.
This sudden departure puts an end to the second term of Germano-Ghanaian Otto Addo, who already sat on the Black Stars bench after the 2021 AFCON through the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, ending with elimination in the group stage. At 50 years old, the former assistant coach and head of the youth academy at Borussia Dortmund had immediately turned the tide by securing qualification for the World Cup.
The following was less successful, marked by a failure against Mali and Comoros in the 2025 AFCON qualifiers. Used to reaching the final four in Africa between 2000-2010, the country with four continental titles finds itself more uncertain than ever 73 days before the fifth World Cup final of its history.
