Big 5 for Stars job; Who wins the race?

Five European coaches in the race for the vacant Black Stars coaching job will appear before a five-member interview panel headed by Ghana Football Association (GFA) president, Kwesi Nyantakyi, to finally select the most suitable tactician to replace Kwasi Appiah, who lost his job last month.

The five shortlisted coaches are Italian Marco Tardelli, Israeli Avram Grant, German Bernd Schuster, Dutch soccer legend Patrick Kluivert and Serbian Milovan Rajevac.

The interview is set to take place in Accra at a date yet to be announced by the GFA, but a source told the Graphic Sports that it would be held after the two 2015 Africa Nations Cup qualifiers between Ghana and Guinea in Casablanca this weekend and at Tamale next week.

The final five were shortlisted by a three-member committee headed by Fred Crentsil. The others were Fred Pappoe and Coach Francis Oti-Akenten from an initial list of 11 coaches selected from 32 applications for the final screening. Last week, the FA’s Executive Committee approved of the shortlist  but shot down a suggestion by a member of the search committee to hold the interview at an European venue.

Among the five, Israeli Grant appears the most prominent in view of his spell with English premiership side, Chelsea, guiding them to the 2008 UEFA Champions League final following the exit of Jose Mourinho. 

Grant, 59, also handled English premiership sides Portsmouth and West Ham United, before moving to Partizan Belgrade to guide the club to the Serbian title in 2012.

But Schuster, 55, has the highest turnover in s coaching career, that has seen him handle clubs in Germany, Spain, Turkey and Ukraine.

The former German international’s credentials in a 17-year coaching career include handling FC Cologne, Real Madrid, Shakhtar Donetsk, Levante, Getafe, Besiktas and Malaga.

One of one of The oldest candidate is 60-year-old Italian, Marco Tardelli, a member of Italy’s 1982 World Cup-winning squad, who was assistant coach of Republic of Ireland until his resignation last year. 

His coaching career includes handling Italy’s oldest club, Juventus, 14 years ago, having guided Italy’s Under-21 side to win the European u-21 Championship the previous year.

Kluivert, 38, was assistant in The Netherlands campaign at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, having previously worked as a member of the backroom coaching staff of Eredivisie club, AZ and later as assistant coach of Dutch side, NEC.

Rajevac, 60, enjoyed a successful spell as Ghana coach from 2008 to 2010, leading the Stars to the final of the 2010 Nations Cup and the quarter-final of the World Cup in South Africa months later after which he left for greener pastures in the Emirates.