Ghana’s senior female football team, the Black Queens have secured one of the two slots to participate in the inter-continental play-offs to qualify for the 2027 Women’s World Cup.
After missing out on the automatic qualification following their 1-2 loss to Malawi in the quarter-finals, the Queens had to go through the longer route, starting with the play-offs involving the quarter-finals losers from the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON).
In one of the two play-offs, the Queens beat Cote d’Ivoire 2-1 to progress to the next phase of the competition.
They had to fight from a goal down, conceding as early as the fourth minute when the Femmes Elephantes earned a penalty. Ines Konan stepped up to take the kick, and converted it to put her side ahead.
The Queens fought back, but had to wait till the 59th minute for the equaliser, Princess Marfo calmly finishing off a move initiated by Stella Nyamekye.
Defender Josephine Bonsu, one of the stand out players for the Queens at this year’s WAFCON, put them ahead on the 72nd minute when she also converted a penalty kick awarded by South Africa referee Makalima Akhona against a foul in the Ivorian box.
The Ivorians tried hard to equalise and put the Ghanaians through some nervous moments, but the defenders kept trouble away until the final whistle went.
Play-off
Having won, Ghana will now progress to the next phase of the play-offs, a round robin competition that involve four other teams from Oceania and Asia Confederations to be played at a centralised venue in December.
The winners will then proceed to the final phase – the intercontinental play-offs scheduled for February 2027, where they will be drawn against sides representatives from Europe, North America and South America.
That competition will have the six teams drawn into three match ups, engaging in knockout ties with the three eventual winners qualifying for the 32-team WWC to be staged in Brazil from June 24 to 25 July 25.
