Ghana names Maxwell Konadu as assistant coach

Accra (Ghana), May 4 (IANS) The Ghana Football Association (GFA) appointed Maxwell Konadu, coach of local premier side Asante Kotoko, as the assistant coach of the men's senior national football team.

The 39-year-old ex-Ghana international had been heavily linked to the position after guiding Ghanaian club Asante Kotoko to win its 22nd league title last Sunday with four games remaining in the season.

Konadu, a member of the national team that won the bronze medal at the 1992 summer Olympics in Barcelona, will assist head coach Kwesi Appiah, with Nasam Yakubu taking over as the goalkeepers' trainer.

The combination of Appiah and Konadu formed a strong partnership that powered Ghana's U-23 team to a historic gold medal feat at last year's All Africa Games in Maputo, Mozambique.

The first competitive assignment for the duo in charge of the FIFA World Cup quarter-finalists would be the 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign at home to Lesotho in June, followed by a cagey encounter against African Cup of Nations winners Zambia.

Ghana placed fourth at the 2012 CAF Nations Cup co-hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.

Ghana has not won the continental championships since 1982.