Soccer-Chris Hughton to advise new Ghana coach

ACCRA (Reuters) - Ghana have appointed former Borussia Dortmund defender Otto Addo as their new coach with Chris Hughton to serve as technical advisor when they play in World Cup playoffs next month, the country’s football association said on Wednesday.

The appointment comes after the sacking of Milovan Rajevac following their embarrassingly early exit from the Africa Cup of Nations finals in Cameroon last month.

Addo will take charge of the two-leg World Cup playoff against Nigeria, who 24 hours earlier announced a change to their coaching plans as well.

The two west African giants meet at the Cape Coast stadium on March 24 in the first leg and Abuja on March 27 in the return match.

Addo, 46, is an assistant coach at German Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund, where he focuses on youth development.

German-born but a former Ghana international, Addo played at Dortmund and Mainz 05 and has previously been on the coaching staff at Hamburg and Borussia Moenchengladbach.

Addo will be assisted by former Dutch international George Boateng, another with Ghanaian roots who is a youth team coach at his former club Aston Villa, and Didi Dramani, who worked at FC Nordsjaelland in Denmark.

Former Newcastle United and Brighton & Hove Albion manager Hughton will be technical advisor for next month's World Cup playoff tie, the Ghana Football Association added, without specific details on his role.

Hughton went to the 1990 World Cup with Ireland in his playing days.

Nigeria on Tuesday reversed a decision to appoint the Portuguese-born Jose Peseiro as their new coach and are sticking with Augustine Eguavoen for next month’s playoff.

(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Christian Radnedge)