The Ghana national football team has appointed 73-year-old Portuguese manager Carlos Queiroz as their new head coach. Queiroz, most recently the national team manager for Oman, Qatar, Iran, and Egypt, replaces Otto Addo, who was dismissed last month following two friendly match defeats against Germany (2-1) and Austria (5-1), and failure to qualify for AFCON 2026.
The new manager for the Black Stars, as Ghana’s team is known, boasts an extensive coaching career that began in 1989 with the Portuguese national team. After stints coaching clubs in New York and Japan, as well as the UAE national team, he led South Africa to the 2002 World Cup, though he resigned before the tournament.
Queiroz, who was born in Mozambique during its time as a Portuguese province, gained significant recognition for his two spells as assistant manager to Alex Ferguson at Manchester United (2002-2003 and 2004-2008). He was subsequently hired by Real Madrid in 2003, the same summer David Beckham joined the club. However, his tenure lasted only one year without any major trophy wins.
Queiroz will guide Ghana through the 2026 World Cup, marking their fifth appearance in the tournament, having only missed the 2018 edition in the last five occurrences. Their best performance was reaching the quarter-finals in South Africa in 2010, but they failed to advance from the group stage in 2022. In the upcoming World Cup, they are set to face England, Croatia, and Panama in their group matches.