Addo aims to open new doors for ex-players

Former Accra Hearts of Oak great  Joe Addo  is hoping to lead a revolution which will see ex-Ghanaian football players become involved in the management of their former clubs.

Last Monday, Addo was appointed as the club’s Corporate Affairs Manager for a two-year term, with the former Black Stars centre-back tasked with re-branding the image of Hearts and making it attractive to potential sponsors.

Addo told Graphic Sports that most retired players were stereotyped into thinking coaching was the only means of being involved with the sport after hanging their boots.

“In my new role, I hope to be an inspiration to young players so that they will know that there are other alternatives after football. this is what I learnt in school,” said Addo, a member of the Black Stars team, which reached the final of the 1992 Africa Cup of Nations, and the Black Meteors team which featured in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

“Aside Opoku Nti at Kumasi Asante Kotoko and presently myself at Hearts, most ex-Ghanaian footballers are into coaching, so I am hoping to be a pioneer in this area.”

Addo, a former assistant coach of Berekum Chelsea, explained that he hoped that after two years he would have aided Hearts to achieve the “Restoring Phobian Glory” vision of the club’s chairman, Togbe Afede XIV.

“I am here to uphold the vision of the Board Chairman, Togbe Afede XIV. My core duty is to make Hearts a global brand so that the club can attract sponsors which will contribute to us winning laurels.

“It will be difficult to do this alone, so I am looking to working with other former Hearts players so we can restore our club to the glory of old”, he stressed.

Addo had a successful professional football career with German sides VfB Stuttgart and FSV Frankfurt, Dutch side Sparta Rotterdam, Portuguese club Belenenses, Ethnikos Piraeus F.C. of Greece and MLS sides, Tampa Bay Mutiny and New York Metro Stars (now New York Red Bulls).

He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration, which he earned on scholarship from the George Mason University in the United States.