Ghana Legend Tony Yeboah Has Revealed The Real Reason For AFCON 1992 Final Defeat to Ivory Coast

Ghana Legend Tony Yeboah Has Revealed The Real Reason For AFCON 1992 Final Defeat to Ivory Coast

Lukman Mumuni
updated at April 12, 2023 at 8:15 PM
In this article:
CAF Africa Cup of Nations logo
CAF AFCON
Africa
  • Former Ghana striker Tony Yeboah has broken his silence on why the Black Stars lost the Africa Cup of Nations in 1992
  • Ghana were beaten by neighbours Ivory Coast in the final, after a marathon penalty shootout in Dakar
  • The Black Stars have not won the Africa Cup of Nations since the 1982 and have been to the finals three times in the last 30 years

Legendary Ghana striker, Tony Yeboah has finally lifted the lid on how Anthony Baffoe was made captain of the Black Stars in the final of AFCON 1992.

Ghana had lost captain Abedi Pele through suspension before the team faced Ivory Coast in the final.

Ahead of the game, the players expected then Frankfurt captain Yeboah to lead the Black Stars by wearing the armband, but the team were shocked to find out defender Baffoe was to instead be the skipper for the match.

Tony Yeboah, Tony Baffoe, Ghana, AFCON 1992, captaincy, row
Tony Yeboah has revealed that captaincy row led to Ghana's defeat at AFCON 1992. Credit: @ghanasoccernet
Source: UGC

According to Yeboah, the decision to hand Baffoe the captaincy for the final affected the team.

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"When the captain is not there? Who is the next?" he quizzed during an interview with GTV Sports Plus. "So my manager from Germany, he called Tony Baffoe because I brought Tony from Germany to come and play the national team."
"I was advising him and I remember we came to Ghana, and they were calling us the two Tonys. So my manager called Tony, at that time I was in top form in Germany and I was captain in Frankfurt. He called him and told Tony to tell the management to give the captain to me, but Tony Baffoe said no... This was before the game."

Yeboah explained that at the time, Kwesi Appiah was captain and the players decided to hand the armband to Abedi Pele, so that a senior would lead the team. He added that Baffoe did not deserve to be captain as he was new to the Ghana national team.

"So even when it is not me, there were players like Opoku Nti, so for me I thought that cost us the AFCON in 1992. Everybody was shocked. The coach, Otto Pfister said he had a letter from Ghana to give Tony Baffoe [captaincy]. Everybody was shocked. It affected the team."

Ghana lost to Ivory Coast on penalties and have not won the Africa Cup of Nations since.

Yeboah calls former manager racist

Earlier, Sports Brief reported that Tony Yeboah as revealed he was forced to leave Eintracht Frankfurt in 1995, following the arrival of German trainer Jupp Heynckes.

The Ghana legend did not see eye to eye with the man, who he describes as a racist for his alleged mistreatment of foreign players.

In an interview with the BBC, Yeboah disclosed Frankfurt had to choose between him, who was the captain of the club, and the manager.

Authors
Lukman Mumuni photo
Lukman Mumuni
Lukman Abdul Mumin is a Sports Journalist based in Accra, Ghana. He has been writing for the past five years. Lukman joined Sports Brief as an Editor for the Local Desk in 2022.
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