James Kuuku Dadzie is a Ghanaian former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

and manager who currently serves as head coach for

Ebusua Dwarfs Cape Coast Mysterious Ebusua Dwarfs is a Ghanaian professional football club based in Cape Coast. The club competes in the Ghana Premier League, the Premier division on the Ghanaian football pyramid, and hold home games at Cape Coast Sports Stadi ...

. During his playing career he played as a defender for

Sekondi Hasaacas F.C. Sekondi Hasaacas FC is a Ghanaian professional association football club based in Sekondi-Takoradi. The club won the Ghana Premier League in 1977 and is currently participating in the Division One League following relegation from the 2015-16 Gh ...

At the international level, he is known for his involvement in the

squad In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and US doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a team, but smaller than a section." while US Army do ...

that won the

1978 African Cup of Nations The 1978 African Cup of Nations was the eleventh edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the Association football, football championship of Africa (Confederation of African Football, CAF). It was hosted by Accra and Kumasi, Ghana. The format of the ...

. He served as the head coach of the

Ghana women's national under-20 football team Ghana women's national under-20 football team represents Ghana in international youth football competitions. Fixtures and results ; Legend 2022 Head coaches * Kuuku Dadzie (November 2009 – October 2011) * Robert Sackey (2011–201 ...

and also later as the head coach for the senior women's team. As coach of the U20, he guided them to Ghana's first women's U20 World Cup in 2010, and also led them to a second-place finish during the

2011 All-Africa Games The 10th All-Africa Games took place between September 3–18, 2011 in Maputo, Mozambique. Maputo's hosting marked the third time the Games was held in the southern part of the continent. Host awarding In April 2005, Lusaka, Zambia was named t ...

International career

Dadzie played for the Ghana national team in the 1970s and early 1980s. He was key member of the squad that played in both the and

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

African Cup of Nations helping Ghana to make history as the first country to win the competition three times and for keeps during the 1978 edition, after scoring Uganda 2–0 in the finals. At a point in time, he served as the captain of the side. He regards himself as being the best ever

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

to have played for the national team.

Coaching career

After retiring from playing football, Dadzie went into coaching. He served as the assistant coach to E. K. Afranie in the 1990s. He also served as the assistant coach for the

Ghana national under-17 football team The Ghana national U-17 football team, known as the Black Starlets, is the youngest team that represents Ghana in football. They are two-time FIFA U-17 World Cup Champions in 1991 and 1995 and a two-time Runner-up in 1993 and ...

under Cecil Jones Attuquayefio in the 1990s including serving under him during the

1999 FIFA U-17 World Championship The 1999 FIFA U-16 World Championship, the eighth edition of the tournament, was held in the cities of Auckland, Christchurch, Napier, and Dunedin in New Zealand between 10 and 27 November 1999. Players born after 1 January 1982 could participate ...

when Ghana placed third.

Ghana Women U20

In November 2009, he was appointed as the head coach of the

(the Black Princesses). He coached the side to win the 2010 African U-20 Cup of Nations for Women, joint with Nigeria, to qualify them to the

2010 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup The 2010 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup was the 5th edition of the tournament. It was held in Germany, who will also host the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup a year later from 13 July to 1 August 2010. Sixteen teams, comprising representatives from all ...

for the first time in the country's history. The team put up an impressive showdown by drawing and picking up a point against

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, losing to

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

by 4–2 and winning against

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

to pick up the countries first win at the

FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup The FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup is an international association football tournament, organized by FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association), for national teams of women under the age of 20. The tournament is held in even-numbere ...

. However the four points they managed to pick was not enough to send them to the quarter-finals. Upon their return from the world cup, his team, the U20 side were charged to serve as Ghana's team for the qualifiers for the 2011 All-African Games. The team beat

Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...

11–0 on aggregate in the preliminary round and women's powerhouse

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

on 3–2 on aggregate in the final round to qualify for the 2011 All-Africa Games – Women's tournament. During the competition, he led the team to the finals, with an unbeaten record before losing to Cameroon in the final by a lone goal.

Ghana Women

After serving as head coach of the U20 side for three years, he was elevated to the role of head coach for the senior women's side, the Black Queens in October 2011. After failing to replicate similar successes chalked during his time as head coach of the U20 side including failing to qualify for the

2012 African Women's Championship The 2012 African Women's Championship was a football competition, which was organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). The final tournament was held in from 28 October to 11 November in Equatorial Guinea. Qualification A total of ...

– (the team lost out to

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

on penalties during the final round of the qualifying stage), he was replaced by his assistant

Yusif Basigi Yusif Basigi (born 1 March 1972) is a Ghanaian professional football manager who currently coaches the Hasaacas Ladies F.C. and the Ghana women's national under-20 football team. He previously coached former Ghana Premier League team; Sekondi H ...

in 2013.

Ebusua Dwarfs

On 15 June 2021, Dadzie was appointed as the head coach of

with five games to the end of the

2020–21 Ghana Premier League The 2020–21 Ghana Premier League is the 65th season of top professional association football league in Ghana. The season started on 14 November 2020. 18 teams are competing in the league with each club playing each other twice, home and away, ...

season after Ernest Thompson-Quartey resigned from the role. He led the team to three wins, one draw and one loss picking 10 points out of a possible 15 including defeating

Bechem United Bechem United Football Club (officially: ''Bechem United Football Club'' or the "Hunters") is a Ghanaian professional football club, based in Bechem in the Ahafo Region They are competing in the Ghanaian Premier League and currently participating ...

by 2–1 on the final day of the season, however, the team was relegated on a head-to-head disadvantage against Elmina Sharks and King Faisal Babes.

Honours

Player

Sekondi Hasaacas *

Ghana Premier League The is the top professional association football division of the football league system in Ghana. Officially formed in 1956 to replace a previous league incarnation, the Gold Coast Club Competition (which began in 1933 and ended in 1953–54), t ...

: 1977 Ghana *

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations referred to as AFCON (french: Coupe d'Afrique des Nations, sometimes referred to as CAN, or TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons), and sometimes as African Cup of Nations, is the main internati ...

Individual * Africa Cup of Nations Team of the Tournament:

Manager

Ghana Women's U20 *

All-Africa Games The African Games, formally known as the All-Africa Games or the Pan African Games, are a continental multi-sport event held every four years, organized by the African Union (AU) with the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (AN ...

silver medal:

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dadzie, James Kuuku Living people Association football defenders Ghana international footballers Sekondi Hasaacas F.C. players Ghanaian football managers Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Ghanaian footballers Africa Cup of Nations-winning players 1978 African Cup of Nations players 1980 African Cup of Nations players Cape Coast Ebusua Dwarfs F.C. managers Ghana women's national football team managers