James Kwesi Appiah (born 30 June 1960), also known as Akwasi Appiah, is a Ghanaian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

coach and former player who played as a

left 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 ...

. He is currently the head coach of Kenpong Football Academy.

Early life and education

Appiah was born on 30 June 1960 in Kumasi. He attended

Opoku Ware School Opoku Ware School, often referred to as OWASS, is a public Catholic senior high school for boys, located in Santasi, a suburb of Kumasi, which is the capital of the Ashanti region of Ghana. Notable alumni * Kenneth Gilbert Adjei, former d ...

(OWASS) for his secondary school education.

Club career

Appiah, a left back, played club football for Prestea Mine Stars between 1982 and 1983, before joining

Asante Kotoko Asante Kotoko Sporting Club, simply known as Asante Kotoko, is a professional football club founded on 31 August 1935 and based in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Nicknamed the ''Porcupine Warriors'', they compete in the Ghana Premier Lea ...

, playing for them between 1983 and 1993.

International career

Appiah played for the Ghana national team between 1982 and 1992, appearing in two

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

qualifying matches; he also captained the team. Appiah was part of the 1982 squad that won the 1982 African Cup of Nations.

Coaching career

Between 1992 and 1995 Appiah served as the assistant coach for his former club Asante Kotoko including deputizing under

Malik Jabir Malik Jabir (born 8 December 1944 in Wa) is a retired Ghanaian professional football striker. He is currently a technical advisor for Asante Kotoko S.C. in the Ghana Premier League. Career Jabir played club football for Asante Kotoko. In ...

. He was subsequently promoted to serve in the role of head coach from 1995 to 1996. He served as a coach as part of the technical team of Fred Osam-Duodu when he served as Head coach of the Ghana national team from 2000 to 2001. He has received technical training from English clubs

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

, and

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

. James Kwesi Appiah was Ghana's assistant coach between 2007 and 2012 serving under

Claude Le Roy Claude Le Roy (born 6 February 1948) is a French football manager and former player, who gained prominence at international level as coach to the Senegal and Ghana national teams. He was most recently the manager of the Togo national team. Ma ...

and

Milovan Rajevac Milovan Rajevac (Serbian: Милован Рајевац; born 2 January 1954) is a Serbian football manager and former professional player who is currently the technical director of Muangthong United. Playing career Born in Čajetina, Rajevac p ...

. Appiah was coach of Ghana U23 as they won 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 ...

. He was appointed as the Head coach of the Ghana national team in April 2012, describing himself as "the underdog" in the process. His Ghana team qualified for the

2014 World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...

in Brazil, making him the first black African coach to take the country to the World Cup. He was given a new two-year contract in May 2014. After the country exited the World Cup in the group stages, Appiah defended his team. He left his position as Ghana manager by mutual consent in September 2014. He became manager of

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

ese club Al Khartoum in December 2014. During his first season, he led the team to a fourth place finish and qualification to the Confederation Cup. The following season, he led the club in attaining the highest points tally per season in the club’s history, 65 points, however they did not qualify for the CAF Confederation Cup. In April 2017 he was re-appointed as the coach of the Ghana national team, replacing former

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

manager

Avram Grant Avraham "Avram" Grant ( he, אברהם "אברם" גרנט; born Avraham Granat; ) is an Israeli professional football manager. He has spent the majority of his career coaching and managing in Israel, winning a number of national league and cup ...

. He was sacked in January 2020. In July 2021, he was appointed as the head coach of Kenpong Football Academy. In January 2023 he was linked with the manager's job at Tanzanian club

Simba SC Simba Sports Club is a football club based in Kariakoo, Dar es Salaam Tanzania, Founded in 1936, the club, which broke away from another Tanzania Giants, Dar Young Africans was named Queens, in honor of her Majesty, the Queen of England. The ...

. He also applied to become Ghana national team manager.

Honours

Player

Asante Kotoko *

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 ...

: 1983, 1986, 1987, 1988–89, 1990–91, 1991–92, 1992–93 *

Ghanaian FA Cup The Ghanaian FA Cup, currently known as the MTN FA Cup for sponsorship purposes, is the top knockout tournament of the Ghanaian association football. The competition is played between the clubs of the Premier League, Division One League, Ghana ...

: 1984, 1989–90 *

African Cup of Champions Clubs The CAF Champions League, known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and formerly the African Cup of Champions Clubs, is an annual football club competition organized by the Confederation of African Football and cont ...

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

Ghana *

African 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 ...

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

Manager

Ghana U23 *

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 ...

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 ...

Individual * Millennium Excellence Awards – Sports 2021 * SWAG Sports Personality of the Year: 2014 * SWAG Coach of the Year: 2012

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Appiah, James Kwesi 1960 births Living people Ghanaian footballers Ghana international footballers Ghanaian football managers Ghana national football team managers 2014 FIFA World Cup managers Ghanaian expatriate football managers Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Sudan Expatriate football managers in Sudan 2013 Africa Cup of Nations managers 1992 African Cup of Nations players Footballers from Kumasi Association football fullbacks 2019 Africa Cup of Nations managers Alumni of Opoku Ware School Association football coaches