Black Queens head coach Nora Hauptle says she always believed she had the resilience to survive a testing job as the head trainer of Ghana’s National Women’s Football Team.
She revealed this in an interview with the BBC as she prepares to lead the Black Queens to the 2024 Women’s AFCON later this year in Morocco.
Hauptle joined a Black Queens team that had failed to qualify to the 2022 Women’s AFCON and the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
However, under tutelage, the Queens rattled off 10 straight win en route to sealing a spot in Morocco with a 3-2 aggregate win over Namibia.
Despite the daunting challenges that awaited her, the Swede says she was confident of passing the test.
“I knew when I jumped in there that I would have the resilience to survive [and] I would learn a lot about myself. For me, the interest behind it maybe sounds ridiculous for others but I learned the most in this whole journey about myself.”
Hauptle was on the verge of achieving another major mark by getting the Black Queens a qualifier away from making it to the Olympic Games for the first time.
However, a late Barbra Banda goal tied the game 3-3 on aggregate and progress to the final round of qualifiers for the Olympics via the advantage of the away goal rule.