Former Ghana national team captain Charles Akonnor has opened up on the football club that helped shape his coaching career.
Akonnor is one of the few trainers to have handled Ghana’s three top clubs, Hearts of Oak, Asante Kotoko and now defunct Obuasi club AshantiGold in the Ghana Premier League. His top flight journey started at then Premier League side Sekondi XI Wise as a coach and later sporting director between 2009 and 2012.
A stint with Accra Hearts of Oak lasted within the 2012 year where strings of poor performances led to his departure from the millennium champions. He coached last season’s CAF Confederation Cup semifinalists Dreams FC for three seasons between 2014 and 2017 before agreeing to join now defunct AshantiGold where he spent just a season.
Record Ghana Premier League holders Asante Kotoko came for his services but the marriage was short lived. He left after just one season in 2019 despite qualifying them for the CAF Champions League. Out of the three top division clubs which he has managed, Akonnor singles out AshantiGold as the best club to have honed his coaching career.
“First of all when you start coaching as a former footballer it’s not that easy, however we managed to bring some pepper in the soup to have a different flavor. But then when you continue to go to the ranks of Hearts of Oak and Kotoko, it becomes difficult because these are serious clubs in our country which are well developed,” Akonnor told Radio Gold Sports.
“The moment of change in my coaching career was when I was with AshantiGold. AshantiGold have been structured in a very positive way with professionalism so it helped my work move very fast and also for people to believe in me,” Akonnor told Radio Gold Sports.
“If I hadn’t made that move, it would have been difficult. The then CEO, Mr. Cudjoe Fianoo made things a bit easier for me and I’m so grateful,” Akonnor told Radio Gold Sports.
The lanky forward’s playing career was across Okwawu United, AshantiGold all in Ghana before seeking greener pastures in Germany where he featured for FC Koln, Wolfsburg, Unterhaching and a spell with AC Horsens in Denmark.
He has played for Ghana’s U-20, U-23 and the Black Stars, starring 51 times for the senior side with 13 goals under his belt. The 50-year-old was Ghana’s assistant coach between 2019 and 2020 before being appointed on permanent basis between 2020 and 2021. He would be relieved of his post after two poor performances against Ethiopia and South Africa in the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
In September 2019, he was shortlisted for the head coach of the Guinea national team role but French national, Didier Six was given the position.
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