German coach, Winfried Schäfer, who declared interest in the vacant Black Stars coaching job and submitted his application, has disclosed that qualifying Ghana for the 2026 FIFA World Cup would be his ultimate target when offered the job.
Following Chris Hughton’s exit after another disappointing tournament at the 2023 AFCON, the GFA formed a five-member committee led by Vice President Mark Addo to search for a new Black Stars coach.
The committee, given a three-week timeline, received over 600 applications, including high-profile coaches such as former Bayern Munich coach Felix Magath, ex-West Ham coach Nikola Jurcevic, and Schäfer, among others.
The Committee, however, is yet to update the public with the outcome of their job, ahead of any official announcement.
Speaking exclusively to Sportsworldghana.com to detail his plans for the highly-demanding Ghana job, Schaefer said: ”I have applied for the job hoping to get it. I am ready to work with some former players who are doing well in their coaching career. I believe I can impact some knowledge in them as well to ensure we achieve success with the Black Stars with a long-term project.
”Ghana has quality players scattered across the world and we all know that. I so much believe in the quality of Ghanaian footballers both in the domestic league and the major leagues in Europe. The team hasn’t been that impressive in their recent tournaments and I am very ready to help build a good team and also ensure the team qualifies for the next FIFA World Cup.
Asked what he knows about the Ghana elite league, the former Bayern Munich gaffer replied that: ”I know the Ghana league has abundant top talents. A senior team coach needs to be in the country to monitor players and give call-ups to those performing well. I would spend much of my time in the country to help get qualify players in the league to be part of the Black Stars.
”Ghana had some players playing in the local league in their maiden World Cup in Germany so I think this is the time to do that again, I think it’s possible to do that considering the quality number of players in the Premier League.” He mentioned.
Schäfer, a former Bundesliga player with 403 appearances and 46 goals, boasts a remarkable coaching career, notably winning the 1970 Bundesliga title and 1970 DFB-Pokal with different clubs.
He led Karlsruher SC to the UEFA Cup semi-finals in 1993–94 and guided Cameroon to victory in the 2002 African Cup of Nations, along with successes in Jamaica, Iran, the UAE, and Qatar.
