Reviewed by Hairudeen MustaphaGhana sports betting writer
Published 8 October 2026
The Technical Search Committee chaired by Fred Pappoe has until Friday 9 October to report on Ghana’s next Black Stars head coach, and what it is set to put forward is an interim appointment rather than a permanent head coach.
The Ministry of Sports and Recreation and the Ghana Football Association met on Friday 2 October, a day after Carlos Queiroz left the job, and set the committee up to scout for and recommend the next head coach. Its report is due by Friday 9 October.
Who is on it, and who is not
Fred Pappoe, a former Ghana Football Association vice president, chairs it. Stephen Appiah, a former Black Stars captain, Faisal Chibsah, a high performance specialist, and Agbesi Dzakpasu, a lawyer and football administrator, were named with him.
So was Anthony Baffoe, and he has declined to serve. No replacement has been named.
An interim coach to start with
Friday’s report is set to recommend an interim coach, and the committee’s mandate then continues into the search for a substantive head coach. Ghana play Somalia twice in November, both matches at the Accra Sports Stadium, and those are the fixtures the temporary appointment would cover.
What the job now comes with
Whoever takes it has to live in Ghana and monitor the domestic league regularly. That condition was agreed at the same meeting.
A technical head will be appointed to coordinate the Under 15, Under 17 and Under 20 development pathway, and each of those teams is to get its own technical team, appropriate competition arrangements and a system for tracking the progression of players. The management committee of each national team goes from five members to three. The Ghana Football Association Technical Directorate will work with the national schools and grassroots sports programme and with football academies, and scouting of players in the domestic league is to be strengthened to widen the senior pool.
The Ghana Football Association, with the Ministry, is to set up a Public Interest Committee to supervise the reforms. Its membership has not been announced.
Why now
Ghana lost 2-0 to Cote d’Ivoire in their opening qualifier and then 4-2 to The Gambia at the Accra Sports Stadium on Tuesday 29 September. They are bottom of Group C with no points from two matches.
CAF drew 48 teams, including the three host nations, into twelve groups of four for 2027 qualifying, under a format in which the top two teams in each group qualify for the final tournament. Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda are at the finals already as hosts, and none of them is in Group C, which holds Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, The Gambia and Somalia.
The two Somalia matches are the next time any of that can change. AXN Sports follows the qualifying groups across the continent, and our Ghana sports news page carries the campaign as it goes.
