Ghana sacks Hughton after crashing out of AFCON

By Mark Ogagan

Ghana have sacked Chris Hughton as their head coach after being knocked out of the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire.

The Black Stars failed to win any of their three group-stage matches at the AFCON, picking up just two points and finishing third in Group B.

Despite Monday’s disappointing 2-2 draw against Mozambique, where they conceded twice in added time, Ghana had a chance of qualifying for the last 16 as one of the best third-placed teams.

But Cameroon’s 3-2 win over The Gambia earlier on Tuesday then saw four-time AFCON champions Ghana knocked out.

“The Ghana Football Association (GFA) wishes to announce that Chris Hughton has been relieved of his duties as head coach of the senior national team with immediate effect,” a GFA statement late on Tuesday read.

“The executive council has also taken a decision to dissolve the technical team of the Black Stars.

“The Ghana Football Association will in the coming days provide a roadmap on the future direction of the Black Stars.”

Ghana’s opening day defeat by Cape Verde was followed by successive 2-2 draws against Egypt and Mozambique, the latter game seeing Hughton’s team concede two penalties in added time and subsequently slip to third place in the group.

“Things are very raw right now,” the 65-year-old said after the Mozambique draw. “There is a commotion outside. It’s an angry place at the moment,

“But when you are unable to see the game through, it becomes very difficult. Our performances have not been good. We played three games, conceded two goals in each game and have ourselves in a difficult situation.

“We had a group of players that really wanted to do well but the performance and results in these three games was not good enough. My impact on the team can only be judged by the results.

“This was the best opportunity we had to do well. We’ve had the players for a long period now to train together and we anticipated we would grow stronger the longer we went in the competition, but the fact is we haven’t. My assessment of my results is that they haven’t been good enough.”

Hughton initially joined the GFA as a technical advisor in February 2022 and worked alongside head coach Otto Addo. Later that year, Ghana beat Nigeria in their World Cup qualification play-off match to secure a place at the Qatar tournament.