President of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), Kurt Okraku, has defended the decision to retain Otto Addo after Ghana’s failure to qualify for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), insisting he has no regrets over the move.
The Black Stars missed out on AFCON for the first time in 20 years after finishing bottom of a qualifying group that included Angola, Sudan, and Niger, sparking widespread criticism and calls for the coach’s dismissal.
However, the GFA opted to maintain confidence in Addo despite the disappointing campaign, a decision Okraku says was made collectively by the association’s Executive Committee.
“I never believed that I had to let the coach go at that time. And we never believed, as an ExCo, that we had to let the coach go at that time. And we stay with that position,” he told 3Sports.
He added that certain internal considerations influenced their stance, even if not all details were publicly known.
“We’ve all done football at various levels, and sometimes there are auxiliary reasons why certain decisions have to be taken or not to be taken. Some of these reasons are not available to a lot of people,” he explained.
Okraku maintained that the decision ultimately paid off, as Ghana secured qualification for the 2026 FIFA World Cup under the same coach.
“But I look back, and I’m happy that we took that decision. At the end, we qualified for the Mundial with the same gaffer, and I don’t regret it at all,” he said.
Despite guiding Ghana to World Cup qualification, Otto Addo was later dismissed following a run of four consecutive friendly defeats against Japan, South Korea, Austria, and Germany, bringing his tenure to an end ahead of the tournament.
