It's a pity Baba Yara Stadium has been banned - Black Stars coach Otto Addo

Published on: 13 September 2024
It's a pity Baba Yara Stadium has been banned - Black Stars coach Otto Addo
Black Stars coach, Otto Addo

Black Stars head coach, Otto Addo says it is a pity that the Baba Yara Stadium has been banned by the Confederation of African Football (CAF).

The stadium which hosts Black Stars games has been described as unfit to host games due to it poor state.

The ban comes after Ghana suffered a 1-0 defeat against Angola in their opener of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers.

The ban means the Black Stars are likely to play the rest of their qualifying games outside the country.

Otto Addo expressed his disappointment on the sidelines of the CAF Coaches Symposium which was held in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire on Thursday.

“It’s really a pity. We always love to play in front of our home crowd but at the end of the day we have to do the best out of this situation," the 45-year-old trainer said.

"If we have to play somewhere else, then it’s like that. I don’t want to use my energy to think too much about that because it’s not in our hands, there is nothing we can do about it, it’s CAF’s decision.

“I hope that we manage all the things so that we can play at home as fast as possible for our crowd to see us," he added.

Despite their win, Angola coach, Pedro Goncalves slammed the poor quality of the pitch.

Meanwhile, the Black Stars will come up against Sudan in a doubleheader in October in the matchday three and four games.

Ghana will first host Sudan on October 7 at a venue yet to be confirmed, before travelling to the Al-Merrikh Stadium for the return leg on October 15.