The sudden resignation of Laryea Kingston as head coach of the Black Starlets caused instability within the team, according to Neil Armstrong-Mortagbe, the Ghana Football Association’s (GFA) head of Public Relations and Strategy.

Kingston stepped down after the Black Starlets’ defeat to Burkina Faso in the semifinal of the recent WAFU B U-17 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers. This loss dashed Ghana’s hopes of qualifying for the next U-17 AFCON, extending the Black Starlets’ absence from the competition to three editions.

Following Kingston’s resignation, the team lost the third-place playoff against Nigeria, finishing fourth despite a strong start to the tournament. Speaking on Joy Prime, Armstrong-Mortagbe noted that Kingston’s departure during the tournament destabilized the team.

“Laryea’s project ran for about seven months… We started with the WAFU Zone B U-17 Championship here, 5-1 against Ivory Coast, next game 2-0. Everybody expected that we should be hopefully qualifying directly to the U-17 AFCON,” he said. “Unfortunately, the results didn’t go our way thereafter. Laryea announced his intent to leave the role in the course of the tournament and I think that created a bit of instability around the team.”

Nana Kweku Agyemang took over coaching duties for the Starlets’ third-place playoff game, which they lost to the Golden Eaglets of Nigeria.

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