Appiah, the Ghanaian legend rewriting Sudan's story amid war

Ghanaian coach James Kwesi Appiah has written many chapters in African football, but few are as dramatic as the one unfolding with Sudan at the African Nations Championship (Chan) PAMOJA 2024 tournament.

Against the backdrop of a brutal civil war that has displaced more than 12 million people and left entire cities in ruins, the 65-year-old has turned Sudan’s Chan team and the main senior national team, the Falcons of Jediane, into one of the continent’s most compelling stories.

Appiah’s Sudan have also qualified for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco ahead of his own Ghana.

They also sit one point adrift of leaders DR Congo in their 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifying group that includes continental giants Senegal. 

For a nation whose domestic league is suspended, whose players live as nomads, and whose home fixtures are staged in Libya or South Sudan, it borders on the miraculous.

For Appiah, this is not the first time he has turned adversity into triumph. As a player, he was part of Ghana’s 1982 Africa Cup of Nations winning squad in Libya, claiming the Black Stars’ fourth continental title.

As a coach, he became the first black African to lead Ghana to a Fifa World Cup in 2014, steering them to Brazil. He was also assistant coach in 2010 when Ghana reached the World Cup quarter-finals — still Africa’s best showing alongside Cameroon (1990), Senegal (2002) and Morocco (2022) even though Morocco surpassed this achievement by playing in the semi-final of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Despite these achievements, Appiah is looking forward to achieving more.

“Once you are in a tournament, you must aim for the trophy,” Appiah told CAFOnline.com

“I don’t believe in participating just to add numbers. If you enter, you must go all out to win.”

That belief has travelled with him from Accra to Khartoum — and now to Sudan’s temporary bases in Saudi Arabia, Mauritania and Libya.

The war that broke out in April 2023 forced Sudan’s league to be suspended. Its top clubs, Al Hilal and Al Merrikh, were temporarily absorbed into the Mauritanian league just to keep players active.

Many squad members have lost family members to the conflict; others are separated from loved ones scattered across refugee camps in Chad and South Sudan.

“Most of the time, we receive messages that one of the boys has lost a relative,” Appiah said.

“But I always remind them: you are the ones who can bring smiles to your people. Even when the fighting continues, when we play, sometimes the guns go silent for a week or two.”

The symbolism is powerful: football as a fragile sanctuary in the midst of war. And for Sudanese everywhere — from Omdurman to Cairo, from diaspora communities in Europe and Australia — this team has become a source of unity.

Perhaps the most poignant twist of this journey is that Appiah’s Sudan eliminated his own country, Ghana, in Afcon 2025 qualifying. A goalless draw in Accra was followed by a stunning 2-0 victory in Benghazi that sealed Ghana’s first failure to reach the Nations Cup in 20 years.

“As a Ghanaian, of course I was sad,” Appiah admitted.

“But once you are a professional, you look at where you are working. My responsibility is Sudan.”

Sudan’s Afcon qualification came after a nerve-shredding campaign. Despite a 4-0 collapse to Niger, they recovered to hold Angola 0-0 and secure second place in their group. The joy was palpable: “Everybody put their guns down and danced in the streets,” Appiah recalled of the celebrations.

Against Algeria, last edition’s runner-up, Sudan fought to a 1-1 draw before winning Saturday's match 4-2 on penalties, with goalkeeper Mohamed Abooja the hero.

Appiah’s methods go beyond tactics. “I tell the players to feel like they are Messi or Ronaldo,” he explained.

“They should never belittle themselves. Wherever we play, whether we have supporters or not, we must see it as home.”