The Black Stars of Ghana have been drawn in Group I for the group stage of the African qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup .
The draw for the African qualifiers was held in Abidjan on Thursday, July 13. The 2010 quarter finalists were placed in a tricky group where they will come up against Madagascar, Comoros, Chad, Central African Republic, and Mali in the new format for the qualifiers of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Speaking to the press after the draw, Africa's all-time top scorer at the World Cup, Asamoah revealed that Ghana stands a chance to qualify from the tricky group.
"Since 2006 when we first qualified, we’ve been consistent except 2018. It looks like we’re getting used to the World Cup. Expectations are high back home but the hope is that we’ll qualify"
The draw however has created some buzz in the media back in Ghana and has left some legends sharing their views also.
“I don’t think it’s a difficult group, it’s rather tricky looking at Madagascar, Mali and Comoros who has a history with us. They’re all going to have an upper hand playing against us because they’ve got both to lose”.
“However I believe we would be able to stand firm with enough preparations. We have to psyche ourselves and also not underestimate anyone”-he added.
Another former player, John Paintsil speaking on a local radio station, Happy FM says “Our boys have a bit of experience in the World Cup qualifiers against Nigeria in 2022 and also participated in the tournament in Qatar”.
Assistant coach of the Black Stars, Massawud Didi Dramani however advised that no opponent in the group should be looked down upon.
"Everyone is a threat and we need not to underestimate anyone. We have to put together a good team, keep the right mentality and keep focusing on games one after the other", he told Accra based Happy FM.
The new format will see the winners of each group automatically qualifying for the World Cup, while the best four second placed teams from all nine groups will enter into a Continental play-off which will include six teams from the other different confederations.
The qualifiers are scheduled to start in November this year, with the last games to be played in the week of October 6-14 while the Continental play-off will be staged between 10-18 November 2025.
Ghana is chasing a 5th appearance at the World Cup after representing in the 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2022 editions.
