John Paintsil is learning from Carlos Queiroz in real time.
The Black Stars assistant coach says working inside the Portuguese’s technical setup has given him a closer look at the discipline, structure and tactical thinking required at international level, lessons he is now folding into his own coaching philosophy.
Paintsil worked alongside Queiroz during Ghana’s 2026 World Cup campaign and is set to remain part of his backroom staff following the Portuguese’s reappointment.
For Paintsil, the value lies in being close enough to observe how an experienced coach operates and to challenge his own ideas against it.
“I think it’s good to learn from those who are ahead of you,” Paintsil told 3Sports.
Discipline, he says, is one of the clearest points of connection between them.
“You know I’m a very disciplined person. He’s also disciplined. And he’s a hard coach,” he said.
But it is the daily football conversations and the organisation behind Queiroz that appear to have left the deeper impression.
“He’s got a very good structure around himself. We always talk about the game,” Paintsil added.
That relationship has not meant putting his own coaching identity aside. Paintsil says he is absorbing what works within Queiroz’s model while continuing to develop his own ideas.
“He has his way of operating; I have my way of operating,” he explained. “But when I stand to coach, I have to fall into his philosophy, and work under him.”
Then comes the part that matters most to Paintsil’s long-term development: taking those lessons and making them his own.
“I have learned a lot, and I’ve taken more from his side, adding to mine,” he said.
For a former international defender now building a career on the other side of the touchline, another spell alongside Queiroz offers Paintsil a valuable apprenticeship; this time with a coach he already knows and a system he has experienced from the inside.