The Ghana Football Association (GFA) says it is close to naming the next head of its technical directorate situated at the Ghanaman Soccer Centre of Excellence at Prampram.

“The Select Committee in charge is in the final leg of their work and would soon submit its final report to the Executive Council for approval, and once approval is given, an official announcement of the new Technical Director will be made,” General Secretary of the association Prosper Harrison Addo, has said.

The head position became vacant following the departure of Mr Samuel Francis Oti-Akenteng whose contract expired at the end of March 2020.

“The Technical Director role is one of the prerequisites of FIFA, and we are in the process of appointing the new head soon.”

According to Mr Addo, the FA is done with the interviews and evaluation, as well as mopping up and left with one last hurdle to name the new person.

Over 100 applications were received by deadline time on March 20 and the GFA Select Committee in charge arrived at six-man shortlist after carefully going through the applications and interviewing applicants through video conferencing.

Refusing to disclose the identity of the shortlisted candidates, sighting the fact that some were still under contract with their current employers, Mr Addo disclosed that the committee interviewed three locals and three ex-pats.

He debunked rumours circulating in sections of the media that his outfit planned on offering the position to an ex-pat, adding that “all the applicants have been given a level playing field to show what they can offer and the most competent would land the position.”

“It is for the sake of best practice that we are keeping the name of the six persons close to our chest for now, and not for any other clandestine reason,” he told the Times Sports at the weekend.

The new head would supervise the technical development and progress of local coaches, support staff and players of the various national teams.

His responsibilities will include planning and executing a long-term programme on how to raise standards of national teams and also put in place a clear path for the integration of players at the junior levels into the senior level.