Ghana

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·11 juin 2026

Ghana – World Cup Profile: Black Stars are ready to shine

Ghana will travel to North America with real hopes of reaching the knockout stages of the World Cup for the first time since 2010.

In South Africa 16 years ago, Ghana were close to becoming the first African nation to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup.

Vidéos OneFootball

The memories of that quarter-final clash with Uruguay still linger in the minds of a fervent fanbase, and they will be attempting to reach that stage once again this summer.

It hasn’t all been plain sailing since Qatar 2022. The Black Stars failed to make it out of the groups at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, while they somehow failed to qualify for the 2025 edition, finishing bottom of a group containing continental heavyweights Angola, Niger and Sudan.

The only way, then, is up. Placed in a group containing Croatia, England and Panama, the Africans do have a chance of making it through to the knockout stages.

Panama are the first opponent in Group L. A win will set them up nicely for the double-header against European opposition.

How Ghana qualified for the World Cup

It has been very much Jekyll and Hyde for Ghana across their previous two major tournament qualification campaigns.

Zero wins throughout the aforementioned 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign were followed by the Black Stars topping their World Cup qualifying group with ease.

Indeed, eight wins from their ten matches saw Ghana claim 25 of the 30 points available, finishing six points ahead of Madagascar in second.

Otto Addo’s men scored 23 goals and conceded just six across their ten matches, with three of those being scored by the Central African Republic in the thrilling 4-3 win.

Ghana’s key players

Antonio Semenyo will be Ghana’s danger man at this World Cup. After a solid start to the season with Bournemouth, he sealed a big-money move to Manchester City.

He scored 11 goals for City, including the winner in the FA Cup final and enters the World Cup a man very much in form.

Despite that, Semenyo has scored just three goals for his country. The opening clash against Panama could provide a platform for him to end an eight-game scoreless run.

Veteran Jordan Ayew will lead the line for the Black Stars, having scored seven goals in ten qualifying matches.

Ayew has played at the 2014 and 2022 editions for Ghana, and this experience will stand him in good stead as he aims to bow out on a high.

Coach profile: Carlos Queiroz

Carlos Queiroz is set to manage at his fifth consecutive World Cup this summer, having previously taken charge of Portugal (2010) and Iran (2014, 2018 & 2022) in the last four tournaments.

His record at the competition, however, is poor. Across 13 matches, Queiroz has led his team to just three victories, and that might be cause for concern.

When Otto Addo was sacked with just three months to go, Queiroz stepped in, joining Bora Milutinovic as only the second manager to lead a team at five consecutive World Cups.

Ghana’s World Cup history

Ghana have played in four World Cups before the 2026 edition, with all of them coming in the 21st century.

The Black Stars made it to the last 16 on their debut in 2006, while becoming incredibly close to becoming the first African nation to reach the semi-finals four years later.

Unfortunately, the 2014 and 2022 tournaments didn’t go quite to plan, with Ghana winning only one game between them and failing to advance from the group stages on both occasions.

Ghana’s World Cup fixtures

Ghana vs PanamaJune 17 at 7 PM ET / 4 PM PT in Toronto, CanadaEngland vs GhanaJune 23 at 4 PM ET / 1 PM PT in Toronto, CanadaCroatia vs Ghana June 27 at 5 PM ET / 2 PM PT in New York/New Jersey Stadium