Ghana Black Stars Hopeful of Qualifying for AFCON 2027

Two games played, zero points, bottom of the table, a familiar but painful place for Ghanaian football fans. After failing to qualify for AFCON 2025 in Morocco, Ghana’s first absence since 2004, Black Stars have started the road to AFCON 2027 even worse.

A 2-0 defeat to Ivory Coast in Bouaké followed by a shocking 4-2 collapse against The Gambia at the Accra Sports Stadium, after leading 2-0, has left the four-time African champions with a mountain to climb in Group C hence the question “Can the Black Stars still revive Ghana’s hope?”.

Ghana now sits at the bottom of Group C while Ivory Coast and The Gambia both have six points from two games which implies that Ghana will need to win all remaining matches to stand a realistic chance of qualification.

However, the challenge is made harder by recent form because Ghana has not won an AFCON qualifying match since September 2023 and failed to win a single game during qualification for the last edition of the tournament.

But despite the poor start, there is still belief within the football fraternity that qualification is mathematically possible if the team can turn its form around quickly and assemble its strongest available squad for the remaining fixtures.

The Ghana Football Association and the Ministry have made changes to the technical team after the poor start, bringing in an interim setup led by Black Queens head coach Kim Lars Björkegren, assisted by Ibrahim Tanko and Godwin Attram, with Fatawu Dauda as goalkeepers’ coach.

Their first assignment is everything: a double-header against Somalia on November 12 and 16, both expected to be played in Ghana.

The focus for the new technical team is to secure maximum points from the Somalia games and build momentum for the final two qualifiers.

Six points from Somalia would lift Ghana to six points, back in contention before the final two games: hosting Ivory Coast and traveling to The Gambia.

Meanwhile throwing away a two-goal lead at home against Gambia exposed the team’s defensive and psychological fragility

AFCON 2027 will be hosted jointly by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, a historic East African edition. For Ghana, a country that once ruled African football, missing two consecutive AFCONs would be unthinkable.

The Black Stars have one path left: win four out of four starting with Somalia which may not be an easy game, but in Ghana football, miracles have happened before.

Will the miracle begin on November 12?

 Emmanuel Quarshie Ashong, ISD