The indefatigable Coach James Kwesi Appiah, who humbly started his glittering football days with Prestea Mine Stars (1982-1983) and later joined the porcupine warriors, Kumasi Asante Kotoko (1983-1993). Ten solid, uninterrupted years of dedicated service to Asante Kotoko.

The dependable defender played for the Black Stars (1982-1992), another ten years of profound and dedicated service to Ghana.

Kwesi Appiah, nicknamed Mayele, has been described by some seasoned football pundits in Ghana as a gentleman on and off the pitch with few words, shyness, and self-discipline. He always looked immaculate during and after every game.

Black Stars player:

He was part of the squad that won Ghana’s 4th African Cup of Nations in Tripoli, Libya, in 1982. At one point, he captained the Black Stars.

Coaching Career (Club Level):

Kwesi Appiah, the man of few words, after retiring as a professional footballer, decided to introduce himself to coaching and instantaneously was added to the Asante Kotoko technical team staff to serve as an assistant coach (1992-1995) and subsequently promoted to the head coach position (1995-1996).

Coaching Career with the Black Stars:

Coach Kwesi Appiah was an assistant Black Stars coach under foreign coaches Goran Stevanovic and Claude Le Roy, and he also worked with Milovan Rajevac. Appiah was the assistant to Stevanovic before becoming the temporary head coach and later, the head coach.

Information available indicates that the veteran tactician and foreign coach under whom Appiah developed his coaching skills was Claude Le Roy, who provided him the extraordinary opportunity to learn on the job.

In 2012, he was handed over the Ghana Black Meteors (U23).

Goran Stevanonovic, whose position Appiah initially took over as the assistant coach and was later made the temporary or stopgap head coach of the Black Stars for the first time (2012-2014). After he lost that position, he moved to Al-Kartoum in Sudan (2014-2017).

He was offered the second opportunity to coach the Black Stars (2017-2020), and after the GFA decided to part company with him without renewing his contract, he was approached and embraced by Kenpong Football Academy (2021-2023), and he later then switched camp to the Sudan national team to help rewrite the country’s football history amidst war.

Appiah as a coach and psychologist:

The war that broke out in 2023 forced Sudan’s football league to be suspended, and its top clubs, Al-Merrikh and Al-Hilal, were temporarily absorbed into the Mauritanian league just to keep players active.

Under the leadership of Akwesi Appiah as the head coach, many squad members have lost family members to the conflict; others are separated from loved ones scattered across refugee camps in Chad and South Sudan.

Coach Kwesi Appiah was quoted to have said, “Sometimes we received messages that one of the players had lost a relative. But I always remind them that you are the ones who can bring smiles to your people even when the fight continues. When we play, sometimes the guns go silent for a week or two.”

Coach Appiah’s accomplishments with the Black Stars:

1. In his first two years with the Black Stars, he managed 27 matches with 12 wins, 10 losses, and 5 draws.

2. He led Ghana to qualify for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, becoming the first Black African coach to achieve that extraordinary feat.

3. He also guided the Black Stars team to 4th place at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.

Notable moments:

1. Some verifiable and unforgettable moments of the Black Stars under coach Akwesi Appiah could be linked to the 7-0 win against Lesotho on his debut in the 2014 World Cup qualification.

2. Securing qualifications for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations with an away victory against Malawi.

3. And an aggregate 7-3 win over the favourite, Egypt, in the 2014 World Cup playoff.

Written chapters in African football:

Coach James Kwesi Appiah has written many chapters in African football, but few are noticeable:

1. He took the gamble to coach the Sudan national team, which he played in the semifinals of the Total Energies Africa Nations Championship (CHAN) AMOJA 2024 against Madagascar on Tuesday but unfortunately lost the game narrowly.

2. Against the backdrop of the brutal civil war that displaced more than 12 million people and left entire cities in ruin.

3. The 65-year-old former Black Stars captain and head coach has turned Sudan’s CHAN team and the main senior national team, the Falcon of Jediane, into one of the continent’s most compelling stories.

4. They are not only semi-finalists at the Total Energies African Nations Championship (CHAN) PMAJA 2024, but they have also qualified for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco ahead of Ghana.

5. They also sit on one point adrift of leaders DR Congo in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying group that includes continental giants Senegal.

6. Under his tenure,Sudanese football fans from rivals Al-Hilal and Al-Merrikh have set aside decades of rivalry and hostility to unite behind the national teams.

7. Coach Appiah’s extraordinary performance has inspired constructive debate and discussions across Africa about trusting local coaches, with many pointing to him as the proof that African managers can deliver even in the harshest conditions.

8. For him, as the head coach of the Sudan national team, he believes that football is one of the keys that can unlock the ongoing civil war, and football is more than playing to win; maybe through football the war might even come to an end:He told BBC Sports Africa.

9. Refugees in camps beam matches on small televisions, briefly escaping the horrors of attacks and displacement.

10. Coach Appaiah always emphasises psychology, as he has lifted players such as Abdelrazig Taha Yagoub Omer, Mohammed Alnour “Abooja” Adam Saeed, Mohammed Abdulrahman, Abuaagla Abdallah and Ramadan Agab into leaders, while diaspora talents like Abdelrahman Kuku, raised in Australia and now playing in Libya, have added depth to the squad.

11. With training camps in Saudi Arabia offering modern facilities and exposure, the Falcons are fitter, more tactically disciplined, and mentally tougher than at any time in their modern football history.

Eliminated Ghana:

Coach James Kwesi Appiah’s Falcons of Sudan eliminated his own Ghana Black Stars in the AFCON 2025 qualifying. A goalless draw at the Accra Sports Stadium, followed by a stunning 2-0 victory in Bengazi, Libya—Ghana’s first failure to reach the Nations Cup in 20 years.

The last Ghanaian coach to beat Ghana was coach Osam Duodo of blessed memory, who defeated the Black Starlets with Gambia in the 2005 African U17 championship final while coach David Duncan was in charge of the Black Starlets.

To all intents and purposes, coach Appiah marks the first time any Ghanaian coach defeated the Black Stars.

The Loop’s comments:

Undoubtedly, you have raised your coaching standard with remarkable traits such as being a sports psychologist, an assertive communicator, an expert in man-management, and effective in non-verbal or body language communication.

These qualities would have aided you in the Brazil 2014 World Cup and beyond with the Black Stars. You have gone through the mill and are now an authority in African football management, sports psychologist and an inspiring and motivational speaker.

You have also improved massively in your media relations, including interviews, story content, choice of words, and psychological warfare.

Undoubtedly, you are among the best football managers in Africa and arguably the best in Ghana.

Keep up the good work with Sudan, and remember home sweet home, and when the proverbial “stone that the builders rejected may become the head of the cornerstone” confronts you in case of vacancy for the Black Stars head coach job, please don’t hesitate. I remember how worried and disgusted you were when you defeated Ghana in Bengazi, Libya.

You have proved to be an excellent football talent hunter with special eyes for raw talent, excellent in team building, and magnificent leadership acumen in inspiring and motivating players to live up to the billing regardless.

Coach Appiah, you’ve added a sports psychology qualification to your CV, and the Loop wishes to recommend you to the University of Ghana Legon, KNUST, Cape Coast University, Winneba University of Education and any other African university across the continent to decorate you with an honorary doctorate in psychology. As a lecturer, I see substantive qualities in you strictly meant for teaching at the university and beyond.

An honorary doctorate, or Doctor Honoris Causa, is an academic degree granted by a university to an individual for their significant contributions or achievements, such as in philanthropy, a professional field, or service, rather than through the normal or traditional academic study. It is simply a prestigious recognition of impact and influence.

Fellow reader, this write-up is designed for critical, holistic, and effective perusal for constructive criticism on Coach James Akwesi Appiah’s accomplishments and the lessons learnt to help reshape Ghana football coaching and management.

By Mohammed Amin Lamptey (Sports Journalist /Lecturer).