With the 2026 FIFA World Cup barely ten weeks away, Ghana’s football leadership finds itself scrambling for answers — and a familiar name has surfaced at the top of the shortlist.
James Kwesi Appiah is reported to be the early favourite to take charge of the Black Stars on an interim basis, following the Ghana Football Association’s decision to part ways with Otto Addo. The axe fell after a string of damaging results, including defeats to Germany and Austria, that plunged the team into crisis at the worst possible time.
Should the appointment come through, Appiah would inherit the daunting task of preparing a wounded squad for football’s biggest stage — a tournament spread across the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
It would not be his first rodeo. Appiah served as Black Stars head coach from 2012 to 2014, steering Ghana to the World Cup in Brazil — a historic milestone, as he became the first indigenous Ghanaian coach to qualify the team for the tournament. That same cycle also yielded a fourth-place finish at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations. He returned for a second stint between 2017 and 2019, again delivering World Cup qualification before an early AFCON exit at the Round of 16.
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His credentials run deeper than his head coaching record. Appiah previously served as assistant coach of the senior national team and guided the U-23 side to gold at the 2011 All-Africa Games — a pedigree that speaks to his long and layered relationship with Ghanaian football.
There is, however, a complication.
Appiah currently serves as head coach of the Sudan national team, where he has drawn praise for improving results under difficult conditions — including encouraging performances in recent AFCON qualifying campaigns. Extricating himself from that commitment quickly enough to take on the Black Stars role may prove to be the first hurdle in what would be an already steep climb.