Ghana men's national football team

History

On 19 August 1962 at the Accra Sports Stadium, Ghana hosted Real Madrid, who were at the time Spanish champions, drawing 3–3.

Charles Kumi Gyamfi became coach in 1961, leading Ghana to successive African Cup of Nations titles, in 1963 and 1965. The Black Stars achieved their record win, 13–2 away to Kenya, in the latter. It reached the final of the tournament in 1968 and 1970, losing 1–0 on both occasions, to DR Congo and Sudan respectively. Its domination of the tournament earned it the nickname "the Black Stars of Africa" in the 1960s.

Fortunes changed for the Black Stars after it failed to qualify for three successive AFCON's in the 1970s. In the 1980s, with emerging talents such as Abedi Pele, the Black Stars defeated 1982 AFCON hosts Libya in the final to win its fourth continental title. Fortunes changed again, as in the 1984 tournament, it was knocked out in the group stages, before failing to qualify for the 1986, 1988 and 1990 tournaments. In 1992, the Black Stars would finish runners-up to the Ivory Coast in a penalty shootout after a goalless draw, which saw every player on the pitch take a penalty, in which they were beaten 11-10, with African Footballer of the Year Abedi Pele suspended for the final.

Tensions among the squad led to the parliamentary and executive to intervene and settle issues between players Abedi Pele and Tony Yeboah. In the 1990s, this may have played some part in the failure of the team to build on the successes of the national underage teams. The generation of Black Stars players who went to the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship final became the "core" of the team at the 2002 African Cup of Nations, going undefeated for a year in 2005 and qualifying for the final tournament of the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The Black Stars started by succumbing to a 2–0 defeat to eventual champions Italy, and wins over Czech Republic (2–0) and the United States (2–1). This saw it advance through to the second round, where it lost 3–0 to Brazil.

Under head coach Milovan Rajevac, the Black Stars went on to secure a 100% win record in its qualification campaign, winning its group and becoming the first African team to qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. In the final tournament, it was placed in Group D with Germany, Serbia and Australia, advancing to the round of 16 after finishing second in their group. Ghana played the United States, winning 2–1 in extra time to become only the third African nation to reach the World Cup quarter-finals, before losing to Uruguay in a penalty shootout in the quarter-finals, after Uruguayan forward Luis Suárez blocked a header with his hand in the penalty box in extra time and was sent off. Asamoah Gyan missed the penalty given for the handball, with the score 1–1. Ghana went on to lose the penalty shootout 4–2.

Culture

Kits and crest

The official jersey colours for the Black Stars are white for home games and yellow for away games.

Adopted following the independence of Ghana in 1957, the black star has been included in the Black Stars' kits. The Black Stars kits were sponsored by Puma SE from 2005, with the deal ending in 2014.

Between 1990 and 2006, Ghana used the kit in the colours of the national flag of Ghana, with gold, green and red used, as in the team's crest and also known as the Pan-African colours. The gold with green and red kit concept and design was used in the 60s and 70s, and designed with gold and green vertical stripes and red shoulders. An all black second kit was introduced in 2008 and in 2015, Black Stars' gold-red-green coloured kit and all black coloured kit is to be reassigned to the position of 1st and 2nd kits following the induction of a brown with blue and gold coloured Black Stars 3rd kit in 2012.

The team's kit for the 2014 FIFA World Cup was ranked as the best kit of the tournament by BuzzFeed.

Grounds

The training facilities and training grounds are located at Agyeman Badu Stadium, Berekum Sports Stadium in Brong-Ahafo, the Tema Sports Stadium in Tema and the multi-functional Lizzy Sports Complex in Legon.

Organisation and finance

The Black Stars had no official head because of "corrupt" practices by the then president, Kwesi Nyantakyi and vice-president George Afriyie, with Frank Davis as director of football, and Edward Bawa as treasurer. The Ghana Football Association (GFA) signed a CN¥92.2 million (US$15 million) deal with Ghanaian state-run oil and gas exploration corporation, Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), to sponsor the Black Stars and the renewable contract saw the oil and gas exploration corporation become the global headline sponsor of the Black Stars, with a yearly Black Stars player salary wage bill, following the gold mining corporations Ashanti Goldfields Corporation and Goldfields Ghana Limited (GGL), which had been sponsoring the Black Stars since 2005.

On 28 August 2013, the GFA launched a TV channel and named GFA TV. The channel has the exclusive rights to broadcast all the Black Stars' matches. In November 2013, the Black Stars signed a 2013–2015 CN¥30.6 million (US$5 million) and an additional classified multi-million private bank sponsorship deal with the Ghanaian state-run private banking institution UniBank.

Supporters

The Black Stars maintain an average stadium match attendance of over 60,000, with 84,017 watching the 2010 FIFA World Cup quarter-final against Uruguay. Its match against England on 29 March 2011 had the largest away following for any association football national team since the re-opening of Wembley Stadium in 2007. The match was watched by 700 million people around the world.

Following the team's appearances at the 2006 and 2010 World Cup tournaments, Ghana were greeted by some hundred fans dancing and singing at Accra International Airport in Accra.

Rivalries

Ghana is rivals with Nigeria. The "Battle of Supremacy on the Gulf of Guinea" is between two of the "most successful teams on the African continent". The proximity of the two countries to each other, a dispute between the different association football competitions and wider diplomatic competition for influence across West Africa add to this rivalry. The match between these two countries is called the Jollof derby.

Media and arts

Match schedules are broadcast in English as in the case of inter-continental matches and in Akan nationally by Adom TV, PeaceFM, AdomFM and HappyFM. During the scheduled qualification for the 2014 World Cup national broadcaster GTV, a sub-division of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), broadcast to the Ghanaian public home qualifiers with away qualifiers broadcast by the satellite television broadcasting corporation Viasat 1. The friendly match against Turkey in August 2013 was televised by Viasat 1 and the qualifiers for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations and the 2018 Inter-Continental Championships are scheduled for public broadcast by the corporations GFA TV, GBC and Viasat 1.

Products including books, documentary films, Azonto dances and songs have been made in the name of the team. These may be intended with commercial motives and are focused on previous and future World Cups or Africa Cup of Nations tournaments.

Books: books have been published on the team's history and participation in tournaments. These include Ghana, The Rediscovered Soccer Might: Watch Out World!, about the history and performance of the Black Stars and association football national teams that the Black Stars have played against, and The Black Stars of Ghana by Alan Whelan; about Black Stars commencing their progress through the final rounds of the 2010 World Cup and into the quarter-finals.

Documentary films: In 2010 Miracle Films Ghana Limited showcased a vintage documentary film picture, Kwame Nkrumah & Ghana's Black Stars, about Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah "Africa's man of the 2nd millennium" and "Pan-African pioneer", who invested energy into making Ghana's association football national team – the Black Stars – a force in African soccer.

Nickname: The Black Star Line, a shipping industry line incorporated by the founder of the Back-to-Africa movement, civil rights movement leader Marcus Garvey and the organiser of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA) from 1919 to 1922, gives the Ghana team its nicknames, the Black Stars of West Africa and the Black Stars of Africa.

Dances: upon the Black Stars scoring against opposition teams, dance forms of the Ghanaian Azonto were performed by Black Stars players in their goal celebrations in match victories at the 2010 World Cup and in 2013, an elite dance version of the Ghanaian Azonto named; "(Akan: Mmonko)" (shrimp), was established and showcased at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations by the Black Stars players. Black Stars goal celebrations in match victories at the 2014 World Cup and upon scoring against opposition teams, are to establish and showcase Alkayida.

Fixtures

The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, and future matches that have been scheduled.

Win

Draw

Loss

Fixture

Coaches

As of 21 April 2026

History

Since 1957, Ghana has had 32 head coaches and 3 caretakers. C. K. Gyamfi led it to 3 Africa Cup of Nations titles – in 1963, 1965 and 1982 – making Gyamfi the "joint most successful coach" in the competition's history. Fred Osam Duodu led the Black Stars to their 1978 Africa Cup of Nations title; Ratomir Dujković, Milovan Rajevac, James Kwesi Appiah and Otto Addo have led the Black Stars to World Cup qualification, with the first two being Serbs. Carlos Queiroz was appointed in April 2026 as Ghana's head coach ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, replacing Otto Addo after a run of four consecutive losses which culminated in a loss to the German national team in Stuttgart. Former Ghana international Anthony Yeboah later expressed support for Queiroz's squad selection ahead of the tournament, backing the coach's decisions for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Players

Current squad

The following players were called up for the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the friendly match against Wales on 2 June 2026.

Caps and goals correct as of 3 July 2026, after the match against Colombia.

Latest call-ups

The following had been called up in 12 months preceding the above draft.

Local team

The football association of Ghana (GFA) administers national teams at levels, including one for the local national team. The team is restricted to players who only play in the local league, thus the Ghana Premier League. It is nicknamed Local Black Stars.

Player records

As of 3 July 2026

Players in bold are still active with Ghana.

Captains

Awuley Quaye (1978)

Kuuku Dadzie (1980–1982)

Emmanuel Quarshie (1982–1984)

Isaac Paha (1984)

James Kwesi Appiah (1984–1992)

Abedi Pele (1992–1998)

Charles Akonnor (1999–2001)

Emmanuel Osei Kuffour (2002)

Stephen Appiah (2002–2010)

John Mensah (2010–2012)

Asamoah Gyan (2012–2019)

André Ayew (2019–2024)

Jordan Ayew (2024–)

Tournament record

FIFA World Cup

Ghana have qualified for 5 FIFA World Cup tournaments, in 2006, 2010, 2014, 2022 and 2026. In 2006, it was the only African side to advance to the second round in Germany, losing to Brazil 3:0 and was the sixth nation in a row from Africa to progress beyond the group stages of the World Cup. Ghana had the youngest team in the 2006 edition with an average age of 23 years and 352 days, and were praised for its improving performance. FIFA ranked Ghana 13th out of the 32 countries who competed in the tournament.

In the 2010 World Cup, Ghana reached the quarter-finals where it was eliminated by Uruguay, after Luis Suárez's handball prevented a possible winning goal. Of the 32 countries that participated in the 2010 edition, FIFA ranked Ghana 7th.

After beating Egypt 7–3 on aggregate in November 2013, Ghana qualified for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. For the first time, Ghana were eliminated in the group stage, drawing 2–2 against Germany, and losing to the United States and Portugal 2–1. Eight years later, Ghana failed to advance past the group stage again, at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

The Black Stars qualified for the 2026 World Cup through the CAF qualifications and entered the tournament as the lowest-ranked African team, sitting 74th in the last FIFA ranking before the tournament. They were eliminated in the round of 32 after losing 1:0 to Colombia.

Africa Cup of Nations

The Black Stars of Ghana have won the Africa Cup of Nations four times: in 1963, 1965, 1978, and 1982, bettered only by Cameroon and Egypt. As the first winner of three AFCON tournaments, it obtained the right to permanently hold the trophy in 1978.

In November 2024, following a 1–1 draw against Angola, Ghana failed to qualify for the 2025 AFCON, missing the tournament for the first time since 2004.

*Draws include matches decided by penalty shoot-out.

Other tournaments

Nkrumah Cup

Champions (3): 1959, 1960, 1963

Ugandan Independence Tournament

Champions (1): 1962

Pestabola Merdeka

Runners-up (1): 1982

Fajr International Tournament (Iran)

Third place (1): 1986

Samuel K. Doe Cup

Runners-up (1): 1986

Black Stars Tournament (Libreville, Gabon)

Third place (1): 1993

Great Artificial River Championship (Libya)

Runners-up (1): 1999

LG Cup

Third place (1): 2003

Unity Cup

Third place (1): 2025

Head-to-head record

Against FIFA recognised teams

As of 3 July 2026 after the match against Colombia.

Jollof derby