Borussia Dortmund have confirmed the return of Otto Addo to the club to continue his role as Assistant coach of the first team, after qualifying Ghana to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 finals as interim head coach.
Following a disastrous output at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon in January under the supervision of Serbian trainer Milovan Rajevac, the Ghana Football Association, acting upon the Government’s order, fired the Serbian as head coach of the Black Stars, and constituted a four-member technical team of the Black Stars with former International Otto Addo as the interim head coach.
The four were tasked to qualify Ghana to the World Cup finals over a two-legged fixture of the last play-off against Nigeria, after which the interim technical team would be dissolved for substantive appointments of handlers to lead Ghana to the tournament in Qatar, which would be Ghana’s fourth appearance at the world stage.
Led by Otto Addo as the interim head coach, the the four – Otto Addo (Interim head coach), Chris Hughton (Technical Adviser), Mas-Ud Didi Dramani and George Boateng, executed the task perfectly, beating pre-match favourites Nigeria on away goal rule to qualify Ghana to the World Cup finals which commences on November 21 later in the year.
Ghana secured a 0-0 draw against the Super Eagles on March 25 at the Baba Yara sports stadium in the first leg, before traveling to Abuja to hold Nigeria to a 1-1 draw at the Moshood Abiola stadium.
The historic feat chocked on personal level by Otto Addo has placed him in the good books of Ghanaians, including the President of the Republic, Nana Akufo-Addo, who have appealed to the 46-year old tactician to accept the Black Stars coaching job on permanent basis, or at least lead the team to the World tournament in Qatar.
On the contrary, the decision is not a straight forward issue as the agreement between the GFA and Borussia Dortmund prior to the release of Otto Addo for the two-game assignment against Nigeria was solely for the two matches and nothing more. Otto Addo still has a contract with the Bundesliga giants, and leading Ghana to the World Cup as head coach means the GFA would have to engage Dortmund and Otto Addo for another agreement.
As expected, the former Hannove 96 forward has returned to post at Dortmund, and the club has gladly confirmed his return with a heroic welcoming message on Wednesday.
“The Hero of Ghana is back in Dortmund!”, Borussia Dortmund wrote in a tweet on Wednesday, with a picture of the Ghanaian smiling beautifully along with other staff members.
