Ghana national football team
The Ghana national football team represents Ghana in men's international football. The team is named the Black Stars after the Black Star of Africa in the flag of Ghana. It is governed by the Ghana Football Association, the governing body for football in Ghana. Prior to 1957, it played as the Gold Coast.
Ghana qualified for the FIFA World Cup for the first time in 2006 [FIFA World Cup|2006]. The team has won the Africa Cup of Nations four times, while finishing as runners-up five times. They have also qualified for the CHAN four times, finishing as runners-up twice.
In 2009, Ghana achieved a historic milestone by becoming the first African nation to win the FIFA U-20 World Cup, defeating Brazil in the final in Egypt.
As at November 20, 2025, Ghana ranked 72nd in the world and 17th among African football nations.
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. They reached the final of the tournament in 1968 and 1970, losing 1–0 on both occasions, to DR Congo and Sudan respectively. Their domination of the tournament earned them the nickname "the Black Stars of Africa" in the 1960s.
Fortunes changed for the Black Stars however, after they failed to qualify for three successive AFCONs in the 1970s. In the early 1980s, however, with emerging talents such as Abedi Pele, the Black Stars defeated 1982 AFCON hosts Libya in the 1982 [African Cup of Nations final|final] to win their fourth and to date, last continental title. Fortunes changed again however, as in the 1984 tournament, they were 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. However, 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 2006 [FIFA World Cup qualification (CAF)|qualifying for the final tournament] of the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The Black Stars started by succumbing to a 2006 [FIFA World Cup Group E#Italy vs Ghana|2–0 defeat] to eventual champions Italy, and wins over Czech Republic and the United States. This saw them advance through to the second round, where they lost 3–0 to Brazil.
Under head coach Milovan Rajevac, the Black Stars went on to secure a 100% win record in their 2010 FIFA [World Cup qualification (CAF)|qualification campaign], winning their group and becoming the first African team to qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. In the final tournament, they were placed in Group D with Germany, Serbia and Australia, advancing to the round of 16 after finishing second in their group. They 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, twelve years before Morocco became the first African team to qualify for the semi-finals of the World Cup.
In 2013, Ghana became the first team to reach four consecutive African Cup of Nations semi-finals twice, with the first occasion between 1963 and 1970.
The Black Stars won their second round group of 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying, and defeated Egypt 7–3 on aggregate in a two-legged play-off, qualifying for the finals. They were drawn in Group G for the finals, where they faced Germany, Portugal, and the United States. They exited in the group stage recording one draw against eventual champions Germany and two losses. However, they were the only team to not lose to Germany in the tournament, and the only team to hold onto a lead against the Germans at any point.
In the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, they reached the final, being denied the title on penalties against Ivory Coast. While their 2017 Africa Cup of Nations campaign ended in a 4th-place finish, they finished behind Egypt and Uganda in their final group qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. At the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, they were eliminated by Tunisia in the round of 16. In 2021, manager Rajevac was brought back, but the Black Stars ended up failing to win a match at the AFCON where they lost 2–3 to debutants the Comoros after an André Ayew red card to finish bottom of their group, failing to progress beyond the group stage for the first time since 2006. They drew 0–0 in a match against Nigeria and drew 1–1 in Nigeria to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup on away goals. During the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Ghana lost their first match against Portugal 3–2. They earned their first and only victory in their second match against South Korea by the same scoreline. A victory against Uruguay was required for a spot in the round of 16 in a rematch of the 2010 quarter-final; Ghana instead lost 2–0 and thus finished bottom, while Uruguay was eliminated as well, as a result of South Korea upsetting Portugal.
Ghana failed to qualify for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, for the first time since 2004, as they finished bottom of the group below Angola, Sudan, and Niger. However, they compensated by qualifying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, their fourth appearance, after gaining necessary wins against Mali and Madagascar despite inconsistency throughout the qualifiers.
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 the Ghana national team 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.
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 GroundsThe 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.Organization and financeThe 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 signed a CN¥92.2 million deal with Ghanaian state-run oil and gas exploration corporation, Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, 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, which had been sponsoring the Black Stars since 2005.On 28 August 2013, Ghana Football Association 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 and an additional classified multi-million private bank sponsorship deal with the Ghanaian state-run private banking institution UniBank. SupportersThe 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. Ghana's 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, they were greeted by some hundred avid fans dancing and singing at Kotoka International Airport in Accra. RivalriesGhana 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 artsMatch 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, 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.
Results and fixturesThe following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.Coaches
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