FORMER Brighton and Hove Albion manager Chris Hughton has been appointed new coach for the Black Stars, the Ghana Football Association (GFA) announced Sunday.
‘The Ghana Football Association has the pleasure to appoint Chris Hughton as head coach of the Black Stars following extensive deliberations between the two parties,’ said a statement issued in Accra.
‘The appointment is in line with the vision of the GFA to continue with the project of building a formidable squad that started with Otto Addo in the lead-up to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 tournament,’ it added.
Born to a Ghanaian father and Irish mother in Forest Gate, London, 64-year-old Hughton was educated locally, at St Bonaventure’s Catholic School, and completed a four-year apprenticeship as a lift engineer before turning professional with Tottenham Hotspur.
After making his professional debut aged 20, Hughton spent most of his playing career with Tottenham Hotspur as a left back, leaving in 1990 after 13 years. After relatively brief spells with West Ham United and Brentford, Hughton retired from playing in 1993 at age 34. He earned 53 caps representing the Republic of Ireland, scoring one goal and starting in all three of Ireland’s games at UEFA Euro 1988 in West Germany.
From 1993 to 2007, Hughton served as coach and then assistant manager for Tottenham. He joined Newcastle United as first team coach in 2008, and, following their relegation, became caretaker manager. He led Newcastle back to the Premier League in his first season in charge, along the way breaking a number of records and securing the permanent managerial position. He was dismissed as manager by Mike Ashley the following December, with his side 12th in the table. Hughton managed Birmingham City for a single season, leading them to fourth place in the league, before joining Norwich City in June 2012. Norwich dismissed Hughton in April 2014 following a run of poor results.
Following his departure from Norwich, Hughton became manager of Brighton & Hove Albion in December 2014. Three years later in 2017, Hughton led the club to promotion to the Premier League for the first time in its history. He successfully avoided relegation for two successive seasons before being dismissed in May 2019 due to a run of poor form. He was appointed as manager of Nottingham Forest in October 2020, before being dismissed in September 2021 after a poor start to the season. Hughton acted as technical advisor to the Ghana national team for the period of their World Cup qualifiers in March 2022.
Ghana has been without a head coach following the resignation of Otto Addo after the team’s exit from the group stages of Qatar 2022 last year.
The Ghana FA has also decided to maintain assistant coaches George Boateng and Mas-Ud Didi Dramani, who were part of the technical team for Ghana during the World Cup in Qatar.
