Coach Tagoe-Quarcoo ready for new challenge at Oaks FC
Former Black Queens Head Coach, Mercy Tagoe-Quarcoo, has said she is ready to bring her wealth of knowledge on board to help make Oaks FC one of the top female teams in Ghana.
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Easily Ghana's most experienced female tactician, she was recently appointed as head coach of the women's team of premier league giants, Accra Hearts of Oak, and believes her new challenge is surmountable with the right players and resources.
With her impressive track record and dedication to the sport, Coach Tagoe-Quarcoo carries a burden of expectation in her new role at Oaks FC as she seeks to lead them to new heights in the upcoming season.
Transition
For a woman who made a successful transition from a footballer to FIFA referee and as the first female to handle a men's premier league side (Amidaus Professionals), the coach told Graphic Sports that her new role did not come with a lot of pressure even though she recognised the high expectation of her to succeed at Oaks FC.
“It is not anything extraordinary. It is just moving from one team to another and I think with the right players and resources, Oak FC will be one of the great female teams in Ghana soon,” she said.
Sharing her opinion on the performance of African teams at the ongoing FIFA Women’s World Cup, she noted that South Africa, Nigeria and Morocco, in particular, had been phenomenal so far in qualifying for the knockout phase, crediting their excellent output to solid infrastructure in their countries, technical expertise (coaching) and player motivation.
She believed Ghana could attain similar feats with the right resources and needed support, urging authorities to take a cue from their achievement.
“The African teams are doing very well, especially Morocco on their debut, and that means they are doing something right in terms of infrastructure, coaching and motivation. If we get all these things together with support, we can do it,” said the Oaks FC coach, who played for Ghana at the 1999 and 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup.
“I believe Coach Nora Hauptle [current Black Queens coach] is doing very well with the Black Queens since she took up the job, so we shall get there. It’s a gradual process,” she said.
All-rounder
At 49, Tagoe-Quarcoo comes into her new job with a wealth of experience as one of the pioneers in women’s football in Ghana before hanging up her boots to take up the challenging roles of managing the game from the technical bench and as a match official.
Before picking up a coaching role, she diverted into refereeing and received her FIFA badge in 2005, becoming the first Ghanaian female referee to officiate at the FIFA Women’s World Cup held in 2007 in China. Also, as a referee, she established her credentials by winning the Sports Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG) and the Premier League Board (PLB) Best Referee of the Year awards in 2009.
She took charge of the Black Queens after the 2018 Women's Africa Cup of Nations held in Ghana. In February 2018, she led the team to win the maiden edition of the West Africa Football Union (WAFU) Zone B Women’s Tournament in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.
