Former Technical Director of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), Francis Oti Akenteng, has called for support for Black Stars coach, Otto Addo, ahead of the 2026 World Cup.
Addo has qualified the senior national team for the Mundial, having finished at the top of Group I with 25 points to become the first coach to lead the Black Stars to a back-to-back World Cup qualification.
This comes after the former Borussia Dortmund coach failed to steer the team to qualify for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament for the first time in over two decades.
Despite qualifying the Black Stars for the global showpiece, there have been calls from fans and pundits to sack Addo, 50, ahead of the tournament.
However, speaking on The Arena on Woezor TV, Oti Akenteng, who now serves as the Director of Football at Kenpong Academy, dismissed the calls from fans to sack Otto Addo, stressing that he must be encouraged and supported ahead of the tournament, which gets underway next summer in the USA, Canada and Mexico.
"I believe we must encourage Otto Addo. He has a technical advisor [Winfried Schäfer], and since the appointment of the technical advisor, he has not lost a game. Although he has not yet reached the level we all wish for in the matches he has played, he has qualified the team for the World Cup, so I believe we must encourage him and also try to retain the technical advisor," he said.
"Fortunately, Desmond Ofei, who is an assistant coach, has obtained his UEFA Pro Licence, so I believe all he needs is encouragement. Let us look at what Senegal did, and let us also encourage our own.
"If we had done that, Kwesi Appiah would have taken the team far, but we failed to support him, and Sudan came for him, and they are benefiting from him.
"What I just want to say is that Otto Addo is our coach and we must support him, and I believe the team will go far. This is his second time he has qualified the country for the World Cup, and I believe that he can build on what he has done," Oti Akenteng added.
Meanwhile, the Black Stars will learn their group opponents for the World Cup on December 5. As part of the team's preparations for the tournament, Ghana will come up against Japan on Friday, November 14, before taking on South Korea four days later.
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