"We need high commitment from President to all the leaders, Technical Director, and the Ghana FA, hoping they will support us and provide all the necessary in­vestment so we can fulfill this," these were the initial words of Nora Hauptle following her appointment as the head coach of the Black Queens.

The senior women's national team was in dire need of saving having failed to qualify for the 2022 Women's Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON). Their last major tournament was in 2018 when Ghana hosted the continental showpiece.

In January 2023 when the appointment of Nora Hauptle was made official, there was a sigh of relief. It felt like exciting times ahead again for the Black Queens and all and sundry was looking ahead to what the Swiss trainer would bring to a team that had 'died.'

She immediately labelled her project as 'Mission Volta' which she would go ahead to explain to everyone who needed clarification about it.

"I know that the Black Queens have been one of Africa’s best; attended the World Cup in 1999 and 2003, and so on but the performances have dropped a bit in the last years. We are well aware of that and so we created a new mission called ‘Volta,'" Nora told the Ghana Football Association media team.

"Volta is a big river in Ghana and it is a Portuguese word that means ‘Turn.’ So now with my appointment we want to make the turn towards success again and of course, it is not just happening."

Nora’s reign started on a good note, and while many claimed the results came from friendlies, they couldn’t deny the steady developments under the new boss.

The Queens claimed victory over Benin in her first game as the head coach before back-to-back wins over Senegal with a total of seven goals scored in her first three games, shipping in no goals.

After a series of friendlies came the competitive games starting with 2024 Olympic Games qualifier doubleheader against Guinea. Ghana secured a 3-0 win on the road before wrapping up the tie with a 4-0 victory at the Accra Sports Stadium.

Then came the qualifiers for the 2024 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON). The Black Queens were paired with Rwanda, an opposition with very little threat to the ambitions of Nora’s guns. Ghana run riot in both Accra and Kigali with a 12-0 aggregate scoreline after the two games.

The qualification campaign for the Olympic Games came around and again and just as they had done in the previous round, the Black Queens were triumphant over Benin, picking up 3-0 and 2-0 wins in the two encounters.

She had gone nine games across all competitions without conceding a goal or drawing a game not to even talk about being on the losing end.

But concession was always coming, a Portia Boakye back pass which goalkeeper Cynthia Konlan misread ended up in Ghana’s net at the Accra Sports Stadium against Namibia as the first goal conceded by the side coached by the Swiss coach.

Of course, this was after Ghana had scored three goals on the day in the first leg of their final 2024 WAFCON qualifier. At this point, qualification was almost sealed and it looked as if the Black Queens would end the 2023 football calendar without defeat.

However, when the Black Queens made their way to Pretoria, South Africa, for the second leg, the gaffer was complacent as she went into the game with her key players on the bench – I would be too if I had a team playing with such confidence – that team, in the end, suffered a 1-0 defeat ending their unbeaten run.

Defeat didn’t matter to the Queens because the target had been achieved – returning to the continental stage for the first time since hosting the competition in 2018.

Nora was the heroine. What she did wasn’t new but it was great in the eyes of a country that was beginning to resurgence in their women’s football again.

The year 2024 didn’t go to plan as she would have wished. The quest to be at the Olympic Games for the first time hit a snag – a loss to Zambia at a packed Accra Sports Stadium. The defeat was marred by talks of the team boycotting the game due to owed bonuses.

To some extent, many believe it affected them because the team was paid on the eve of that crucial game against the Copper Queens and while they might have lost the game, that performance deserved an ovation.

As if the first leg wasn’t dramatic enough. Ndola seemed like no fortress to the Black Queens despite Zambia’s record at home. Zambia went ahead, but Nora’s side twice led in the game and looked certain to qualify for the Olympic Games on the away goal rule.

Then the unfortunate happened. A red card to Jennifer Cudjoe, a late free kick to the Copper Queens and Barbra Banda made no mistake as she scored to finish the game 3-3 on the night and 4-3 aggregate advantage for Zambia.

Ghana failed in a bid to qualify for the Olympic Games but the Black Queens performance against Zambia in the two games saw Zambians clamour for the appointment of Nora and asked Bruce Mwape to be ditched.

Within the twinkle of an eye, the Black Queens had failed to win any of their last three games and what followed next was a battering against Japan in the only friendly game they played last year.

How did we get here?

Qualification for the WAFCON was secured in 2023 and the Swiss was expecting to get friendly games as part of preparations for the tournament. And while she didn’t openly disclose her demands, sources within the team told Joy Sports of her frustrations at not getting games to test the strength of her team.

In fact, even when the women’s international window was introduced for the very first time last year, the GFA failed to secure friendly games for the team. The second window saw teams like Senegal and Tunisia wanting to play against the Black Queens.

However, the Ministry of Youth and Sports as well as the GFA, didn’t approve the team’s $40,000 budget for the two games due to lack of funds.

"The next step is that we need to work a lot, and play a lot of highly com­petitive games so we can measure ourselves," she had earlier said this even before she commenced her role as the gaffer.

“We need to have challenges so we can grow and have a lot of tournaments in front of us but we need to do friendly games against the best opponents in the world, put in a good strategy and princi­ples on the pitch. We also need a lot of leadership and that will be in the Mission Volta."

Nora, following the absence of games in the last international window, took to her LinkedIn page to voice concern about the lack of adequate being dished out to her team. Her message compared the games played by her side to that of other teams who have also secured qualification to be in Morocco in July this year for the WAFCON.

Nora signed a two-year-deal with the Ghana Football Association and everyone knew that deal was going to end at the end of December. Per the GFA, talks with the Swiss to extend her contract had commenced as early as June but she was not forthcoming.

The Communication’s Director of the FA, Henry Asante-Twum, revealed the 41-year-old was demanding a 100% salary increment to continue her role as the head coach of the side.

"We only failed to play a friendly match in November. How is that enough reason for the coach not to have her contract extended?" Henry said on Asempa FM.

"It is purely an issue of remuneration disagreement. The FA organized friendlies against Benin, Senegal twice, and Japan, where we lost 4-0.

"[In November] we planned friendlies against Senegal, Tunisia, and France, which did not happen because of the distance and the players' fatigue after the Japan friendly. It was all done by the FA.”

Fast-forward to January, the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) announced the appointment of Nora on a three-year deal with her first major tournament set to be the WAFCON after they moved Bruce Mwape to a different role.

What next for the Black Queens?

In their farewell message to Nora, the GFA said they will announce the appointment of a new head coach soon. The question is, with just six months to go until the WAFCON, why wasn’t an emergency plan put in place knowing very well the difficulty they were facing in negotiating with the Swiss?

Are there even coaches readily cut to continue the project that Nora commenced some two years ago? if that person is even suited to the same school of thought as the former?

At the moment, the line is tilted to returning to having a domestic coach in charge of the national team. Nora was the first foreign coach to take charge of the Black Queens since 1993. It would have been nice to have her continue but the unfortunate has happened and we have to move on.

A Mercy Tagoe return? A possible homecoming for Yussif Basigi or Mas-Ud Didi Dramani?

In the past, the Black Queens had domestic players as its core with a few foreign additions. Under Nora, it was the other way round. A core of the team were based outside Ghana with a few additions from the local scene.

If there was one thing she did right, it was how easy she convinced some players to make a return or make the decision to play for the Black Queens. She was quick to monitor players she found interesting and once who would help her project.

Ghanaians who have fallen in love with the Black Queens again will hope the right decision is made at the end of the day and that they never have to see senior women’s national team suffer the same fate as in the past.