Ministry of Sports and Recreation has finally settled all outstanding salary arrears owed to current and former Black Stars coaches—a debt that had quietly lingered since 2020.
Led by Sports Minister Kofi Adams, the move follows an exhaustive audit and inter-agency coordination that sought to right a wrong many within Ghana’s football community had almost given up on. The coaches—some long gone from their posts—have now been compensated for their months and even years of unpaid service to the nation.
Among the biggest beneficiaries is Charles Kwablan Akonnor (CK Akonnor), who served as Ghana’s head coach from January 2020 to September 2021. After years of waiting, Akonnor finally received $120,000 in back pay. His assistant, David Duncan, received $40,000, although he is reportedly still owed some amount.
Chris Hughton, who was dismissed after Ghana’s disappointing exit from the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Côte d’Ivoire, received $68,904 in owed salaries and sign-on fees. His former assistants—George Boateng and Mas-Ud Didi Dramani—received $20,833 and $12,500, respectively, for unpaid sign-on bonuses.
The clean-up didn’t end with the past. The current Black Stars technical team, led by Otto Addo, had also gone unpaid for six months—from October 2024 to March 2025. That financial cloud has now been lifted, with Addo receiving over $420,000 for the period. His support staff also got their dues:
•Joseph Laumann – $75,000
•John Paintsil – $64,864
•Fatau Dauda (goalkeepers’ trainer) – $19,459
•Francis Bugri Tampuli (team coordinator) – $33,000
However, there’s still more to do. The coaching staff is yet to be paid for April and May 2025, indicating that while progress has been made, the process is not yet fully complete.
Maxwell Konadu, who served as assistant coach under Milovan Rajevac between September 2021 and January 2022, was also compensated with $30,000 in arrears.
While the Ghana Football Association (GFA) was responsible for hiring the coaches, the obligation to pay them rests with the government—a responsibility that, until now, had been left unmet for years.
