Mini football figure - Ghana

Ghana

The Ghana national football team (nickname: Black Stars) is the selection of Ghanaian football players that represents the Ghana Football Association (GFA) at international level, for example in friendly matches against the selection teams of other national associations, but also at the African Championship of the African continental association CAF or the FIFA World Cup.

The GFA team is one of the most successful national football teams on the African continent. It has reached the final of an African Football Championship nine times. Four times (1963, 1965, 1978 and 1982) the Ghanaian team won the title, five times (1968, 1970, 1992, 2010 and 2015) they were runners-up. They have also finished third once (2008) and fourth three times (1996, 2012, 2013). With a total of 19 African Championship appearances, the team ranks third in this respect behind Egypt and Côte d'Ivoire.

The team qualified for a World Cup for the first time in October 2005. During the World Cup the following year, the selection under coach Ratomir Dujković was the only African team to make it through the preliminary round, and they were only eliminated by Brazil in the round of 16. After a successful qualification for the first World Cup on African soil (2010), they met the German national football team, among others, in Group D of the preliminary round.

The GFA's junior teams have also enjoyed great success: the U-17s (nicknamed the Black Starlets) were world champions in 1991 and 1995, while the U-20s (nicknamed the Black Satellites) won the World Cup in 2009. In addition, the U-23 team (nicknamed Black Meteors) achieved a third place at the 1992 Olympic Games. In 2005, the national team was awarded the title of Emerging Player of the Year by the world governing body FIFA.

Participation in Olympic Games

After 1988, the senior national team did not participate in the Olympic Games. The Olympic team won the bronze medal in 1992, reached the quarter-finals in 1996 and was eliminated in the preliminary round in 2004.

Participation in World Championships

Ghana has participated in World Cup qualifiers since 1962. The team qualified for the World Cup in Germany in 2006 for the first time and reached the last 16, where the Black Stars lost to Brazil. Four years later, Ghana reached the quarter-finals of the first World Cup on African soil, losing to Uruguay on penalties.

So far, the Ghanaian national team has earned 14 points in 12 World Cup matches, with four wins, three draws (including one match lost on penalties) and five defeats. The goal difference is 13:16 and the team is 37th in the all-time table. In their last participation in 2014, Ghana were the only opponents of the future world champions Germany, who did not lose against them and managed to score more than one goal.

On 19 November 2013, Ghana qualified for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. After winning their group ahead of the national teams from Zambia, Sudan and Lesotho, the Black Stars became the fourth African participant to reach the World Cup finals with a 6-1 win and a 1-2 loss to Egypt. In the preliminary round of the World Cup, Ghana faced Germany, Portugal and the United States in Group G.

Participation in African championships

Also since 1962, Ghana has participated in African Football Championship qualifiers. On 5 February 2015, Ghana reached the final for the 9th time, making it the sole record finalist. In the "perpetual table", Ghana is in third place with 47 wins, 13 draws and 23 defeats with a goal difference of 111:71.

Players

For many years, Abédi Pelé was considered the Black Stars' top scorer with 33 international goals, but as early as 2011, former national player and association president Ben Koufie raised doubts about this that had not been definitively proven. On 7 June 2013, Asamoah Gyan surpassed this performance with a brace in the match against Sudan and became the team's new record scorer with 34 goals. Just a few days later, sports journalist Thomas Freeman Yeboah published his research, according to which Kwasi Owusu was the national team's top scorer with 36 goals and Abédi Pelé had only scored 19. Freeman Yeboah corrected this after further investigation in July 2013 - Kwasi Owusu and Edward Acquah were henceforth listed as record scorers with 40 goals each. After Asamoah Gyan had set this record in the match against South Korea on 9 June 2014, he scored his 41st goal in the Black Stars' jersey twelve days later in the World Cup group match against Germany and has since been the sole record holder in this category.