Like a Swiss chocolatier refining the finest cocoa beans from Ghana, Nora Hauptl is on a mission to nurture the country’s raw female talent and return the Black Queens to the pinnacle of African football.
“I always tell them I’m closing the circle because probably the cocoa was exported to Switzerland, we add the milk and now I’m bringing back the chocolate,” the Swiss coach told BBC Sport Africa.
Ghana were once seen as Nigeria’s main contenders for dominance on the continent, qualifying for three successive Women’s World Cups between 1999 and 2007, but then suffered a disastrous slump.
The Black Queens hosted the African Women’s Cup of Nations in 2018 but crashed out in the group stage and the team failed to even qualify for the 2022 edition in Morocco.
They had only played one match in the whole of 2022 when Hauptl joined late that year, initially as a technical adviser for the under-20 team at the U20 Women’s World Cup.
He then took charge of the senior team in January 2023 and turned the team’s fortunes around as the Black Queens won Hauptle’s first nine games without conceding – scoring 31 goals in the process.
Ironically, her biggest achievement to date came with her first defeat, which came in the final round of qualifying for the 2024 Women’s Cup of Nations.
Having beaten Namibia 3-1 in the first leg in Accra, the Black Queens held on for a nervy 1-0 defeat in the second leg – still enough to return them to the tournament for the first time in six years, which brought Crazy to tears.
“I’m human too you know,” he reflected on the overall victory.
“It was a lot of pressure and you know you have to deliver. Of course it was a big release.”
Overseeing Ghana’s return to the finals will be Hauptle’s next challenge – but the 40-year-old has plenty of experience to draw upon, having taken a different route since hanging up her boots.