Ghana's Black Queens are still chasing a return to the
Women's World Cup for the first time since 2007 — and they've kept that chase
alive the hard way, with a gutsy comeback win just four days after their WAFCON
campaign came to a painful end.
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| Black Queens WAFCON 2026 Ghana women's football team |
The quarter-final that got away
The Black Queens looked set for a historic run at the
2026 Women's Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco. After topping their group stage
with a 2-0 win over Cape Verde, a narrow 1-0 loss to Cameroon, and a battling
1-1 draw with Mali, Ghana advanced to the quarter-finals against tournament
debutants Malawi — with a place in the World Cup on the line, since all four
WAFCON semi-finalists qualified automatically for Brazil 2027.
It started well. Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah put Ghana ahead
inside seven minutes. But Malawi's star forward Temwa Chawinga levelled things
before the break, and despite a disallowed Ghana goal after a VAR review,
Malawi struck the decisive blow in the 79th minute to send the Black Queens out
2-1 and end their bid for automatic qualification.
The comeback that kept the dream alive
Elimination from WAFCON wasn't the end of the road. Under
CAF's playoff format, the four losing quarter-finalists were paired off for one
more shot at reaching the FIFA intercontinental playoffs — and Ghana drew Ivory
Coast.
It didn't start well there either. Ivory Coast's Inès
Konan converted a penalty inside four minutes to put the Lady Elephants ahead.
Ghana had what looked like an equaliser ruled out by VAR before halftime. But
the Black Queens didn't fold. Princess Marfo headed in the equaliser before the
hour mark, and Josephine Bonsu converted a second-half penalty to complete a
2-1 turnaround — sending Ghana through to the FIFA intercontinental playoffs
alongside South Africa, while Nigeria's defeat meant the Super Falcons will
miss a World Cup for the first time since the competition began.
Head coach Kim Lars Björkegren didn't hide his
disappointment at missing automatic qualification, but the group's response
four days later says plenty about the character of this squad.
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Black Queens celebrate 2-1 comeback
win over Ivory Coast at WAFCON 2026 |
What's next
Ghana now heads into the FIFA Women's World Cup
intercontinental playoffs, a centralized mini-tournament set for November and
December featuring teams from Africa, Asia, Oceania, and South America. The
Black Queens will need a top-two finish in their phase to advance toward a
place at Brazil 2027 — a tournament Ghana hasn't featured at since 2007, having
missed the last four editions.
For a squad that finished third at WAFCON 2024 and has
now twice fought back from setbacks in the space of a single tournament, the
message from Casablanca was clear: this group isn't finished chasing history
yet.
Byqwesi will carry full coverage of Ghana's
intercontinental playoff fixtures once CAF and FIFA confirm the schedule later
this year.
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