Charles Kwabla Akonnor

Charles Kwabla Akonnor (born 12 March 1974) is a Ghanaian football gambler, currently Gor Mahia F.C, and former player who most recently managed the Ghana national team. A former midfielder, he spent most of his club career in Germany. He made 51 appearances for the Ghana national team scoring 13 goals.

He started his career in Ghana with a colts team Young Hearts, before joining Okwawu United and later Obuasi Goldfields. In 1992, Akonnor moved to Germany with Samuel Kuffour and joined then 2. Bundesliga side Fortuna Köln, where he would spend six seasons and appear in over 150 matches and score over 25 goals before securing a move to Bundesliga side VfL Wolfsburg where he made his name. At Wolfsburg, Akonnor played over 140 matches, scored over 20 goals and served as captain in the 2001–02 season before leaving the club in 2004 to join SpVgg Unterhaching.

Fortuna Köln Akonnor first came to Germany in 1992, along with friend and national teammate Samuel Kuffour. He joined Fortuna Köln in 1992 upon his arrival. He played for the side for six years, playing 159 matches in all competitions (153 league matches) and scoring 26 goals all in league matches, averaging a minimum of 26 matches per season.

VfL Wolfsburg Having played for six years with Fortuna Köln (all in the second division), he switched in 1998 to Bundesliga side VfL Wolfsburg. On 28 August 1998, Akonnor scored his competitive debut goal, by scoring the winning goal in the 88th minute of a 4–3 DFB-Pokal victory against Karlsruher SC. On 19 September 1998, he scored his debut league goal in a 4–2 loss to Werder Bremen.

At Wolfsburg, Akonnor quickly developed as a resourceful player and one of the team's most important elements and, in 2001–02, was given team captaincy. However, at the start of the following season he was injured (a knee problem which required an operation in 2003) causing him to miss a greater part of the season. He left the club in January 2004 after five seasons, playing 140 matches in all competitions (121 league matches) and scoring 23 goals (13 in league matches), averaging 28 league matches per season. On 5 April 2004, he scored his debut goal, by scoring Unterhaching's only goal in a 3–1 loss to Rot-Weiß Oberhausen. Akonnor immediately became an important player in their team with his experience from playing in the Bundesliga, featuring in 15 of the 17 league matches in the second round of the 2003–04 season. At the end of his two-year spell, he had played in 48 matches in all competitions (46 league matches) and scored 4 goals. He played there until 18 February 2009 when he announced the end of his career.

International career At the international level, he capped for Ghana at the under-20 level, U23 and the senior team. At the youth level, he starred for Ghana, and helped them third place during the 1991 African Youth Championship but unfortunately losing out on qualifying for the World Youth Championship. Two years later the team returned and this time won 1993 African Youth Championship and qualified for the World Youth Championship. The team went on and placed second at the 1993 FIFA World Youth Championship, losing to Brazil by 2–1 in the final after Emmanuel Duah had put Ghana ahead in the first half. In the team's route to the final, he scored a goal in their final group stage match against Portugal to help them to a 2–0 victory and qualify for the quarter-finals. Akonnor along with players from that squad like Samuel Osei Kuffour, Mohamed Gargo, Augustine Arhinful, Emmanuel Duah and Stephen Baidoo would later graduate into the senior team to become the core members.

For the senior team Akonnor would go on and make 51 international caps and later was named captain of the Black Stars following Abedi Pele's retirement. On 22 January 2010, he was named as the director of sport of the Sekondi Wise Fighters. His successor as head coach was Hans-Dieter Schmidt.

Accra Hearts of Oak On 19 March 2012, Akonnor was named as head coach of the Glo Premier League club Hearts of Oak succeeding Nebojša Vučićević. In November 2012, he was sacked after a poor start of the season with the club picking four points of a possible 15 with losses in their last three games to Ebusua Dwarfs, Wa All Stars and Berekum Chelsea.

Dreams In 2014, Akonnor was appointed as the head coach of then Ghana Division One League side Dreams. The following year, he led the team to the Ghana Premier League for the time in the club's history after winning the 2015 Ghana Division One League Zone III getting promoted to compete in the 2016 Ghana Premier League season. In their debut GPL season, he led to ninth-place finish. The club was however demoted by the Ghana Football Association's Disciplinary Committee to the Ghana Division One League in December 2016 due to an anomaly with the registration of a player. He left the club permanently in November 2017 following his short-term contract with Ashanti Gold. He subsequently signed a permanent deal with Ashanti Gold.

Ashanti Gold In April 2017, Akonnor returned to his boyhood club Ashanti Gold, to serve as head coach for the second round of the 2017 Ghana Premier League, after the club had been trailing at the bottom of the league table with eight points after eleven games out of which they had won two, drawn two and recorded seven losses. His contract with the club was on an interim basis as he was still under contract with Dreams.

Asante Kotoko On 1 October 2018, he was appointed as the head coach of Asante Kotoko replacing Paa Kwesi Fabin. He signed a two-year contract with the club running through until October 2020. He served for nine months, helping them to win the 2019 GFA Normalization Committee Special Competition and qualify for the 2019–20 CAF Champions League. In July 2019, he was sacked by Asante Kotoko and replaced by Kjetil Zachariassen.

Ghana National Team In September 2019, he was shortlisted for the head coach of the Guinea national team role but French national Didier Six was given the position. On 30 October 2019, he was appointed as the assistant coach of the Ghana national team, serving as deputy to James Kwesi Appiah. In early January 2020, his appointment as assistant coach of the Ghana national team was terminated. This happened as a result of the Ghana Football Association's decision to dissolve the technical crews of the senior teams. However, he was appointed as the head coach of Ghana on 15 January 2020. David Duncan was appointed as his assistant.

Ahead of Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers against South Africa and São Tomé and Príncipe, he choose to summon 32 locally based players for an intensive training regimen. He revealed that the global COVID-19 pandemic necessitated his decision to name 32 home-based players for the AFCON qualifiers because some of the players invited for the previous matches had tested positive after returning to their clubs.

Personal life His son Charles Jesaja Herrmann is also a footballer who plays as a forward; he came through the youth system at VfL Wolfsburg.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player Ghana

African Youth Championship: 1993, third place: 1991 FIFA U-20 World Cup runner up: 1993

Individual

Ghana Premier League Coach of the Month: March 2018 Ghana Football Awards Manager of the Year: 2019 January 2026 Kenyan Premier League Coach of the Season: 2025–26 AFCON Team of the Tournament & CAF African 11 Team of the Year: 1998