Desmond Ofei ready for more after journey from professional to Ghana Under-20 coach
He had the privilege of playing in Belgium at a young age before moving to play in the United Kingdom. Unfortunately, he picked up a severe groin injury and was forced to retire in his early 20s.
Ofei had cracks in his groin a could either go for surgery or stop playing, the then pacey winger opted for the latter and brought an end to a very pre-mature career full of promise. After years of hard work and investment, it was a rather disappointing end for someone passionate about football from birth. His late father Eric Asiedu, who was affectionately referred to as ‘Big Boss’, worked in the football ecosystem and spent almost 10 years as the kit manager for Chelsea’s youth team.
Ofei took advantage of his father’s connections in football and his knowledge of the game quickly pivoting to scouting before switching to coaching.
“I met a couple of agents that were interested in doing business in Belgium. So I was scouting for them, but I immediately found out that this agency work and scouting is not for me. Then I started coaching with internships at Chelsea and several clubs before finally getting a job at Sporting Lokeren. In about four years, I worked with under-8, under-12s, under-15s, under-18s, under-19s, and under-23s where I was head coach. Sadly, the club went bankrupt and were demoted,” he told Flashscore in an exclusive interview.
Once again, Ofei was required to make a move and chose Portugal as his next destination where he was head coach of Lusitano Ginasio Clube SAD.
“I went to Portugal as a head coach in the third division. We did really well for one season and then from there because of family reasons, I had to move back to Belgium. I then coached Antwerp’s under-18s and served as assistant coach for the under-21s and then from there I received the call to work for the Ghana Football Association in the technical directorate as a manager for high performance.
"The role means that I'm responsible for all the national youth teams. In the past two months, I’ve now been appointed as head coach of Ghana’s under-20 side making it almost 14 years of coaching experience from youth to senior football.”
After winning the Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in 2021, Ghana has failed to replicate similar success as the team’s performances have deteriorated. The Black Satellites, as Ghana’s under-20 team is referred to, lost to Nigeria in the WAFU sub-regional tournament and as a result couldn’t qualify for the 2023 U20 AFCON. The team then capped off a disastrous year after being eliminated at the group stages of the WAFU Zone B Boys Championship in Ivory Coast. Ofei admits the timing is still right for him to have an impact.
“I think the timing was right because I did everything that I could do at the highest level in Europe when it comes to youth football in Europe. The next step was for me to come to Ghana and help the GFA whilst working for the under-20 side. I had a lot of opportunities in Europe and could have gone to Club Brugge but I chose Ghana because it is my country and I wanted to assist.
“It's hard for me to look so far ahead and wouldn't be wise also. Of course, I have to have goals and aspirations but I think for me now is to focus on the Black satellites. Make sure that we can get as far in the right tournaments as possible with the main goal being qualification for the 2025 u-20 World Cup,” he added.
Ofei has already started assembling his squad in their bid to rewrite history. Thirty-nine players were invited to begin camping in September. Since then the team has been playing a series of friendlies while touring the country.
The journey to overhauling Ghana football didn’t just start for Ofei. He was involved in the thorough process of developing the national football philosophy for Ghana – a book that outlines the football DNA of the country.
“I was part of the process. I worked in the technical directorate so this is something that we have to integrate. As manager for high performance, the youth teams are my responsibility and I have to make sure that we all have the same playing style or the same playing philosophy and principles. This helps also with the transition from the youth teams to the senior team.”
Ofei describes his philosophy as "controlling the game with and without the ball, understanding space-time, awareness, making the right decision, placing the right positions and dominating and dictating the game.”
His mentor is Jose Mourinho (60) but he goes on to add “I’m a more technical coach.” There are some similarities as both retired relatively early from playing to focus on coaching. To Ofei, every world-class coach was once a top youth coach. He is currently on the journey of climbing to the top as he looks to take Ghana’s youth teams back to the top of the continent.