The Women’s Africa Cup of Nations kicks off today in Morocco, and for the first time in years, Ghana arrive not just hoping to be competitive, but actually believing they can go all the way. It’s taken a genuine two-year rebuild to get here.
Rewind to before 2025, and the Black Queens weren’t even part of the conversation. Ghana had gone six years without appearing at a WAFCON finals, a stretch that left one of Africa’s proudest women’s football nations on the outside looking in. That changed under Swiss coach Nora Häuptle, who guided Ghana back to the tournament and came agonisingly close to Olympic qualification too, narrowly losing out to Zambia, a team so impressed by her work they hired her themselves shortly after. When contract talks between Häuptle and the Ghana Football Association broke down over money, Sweden’s Kim Lars Björkegren took over in January 2025 with barely seven months to prepare a squad for the tournament in Morocco.
It did not start well. Björkegren won just one of his first five matches in charge, and Ghana headed into that 2025 WAFCON having won only three of seven warm-up games. The tournament opener didn’t help: a 2-0 defeat to South Africa. But something clicked from there. “Step by step, we saw that we have the potential to beat almost all the teams in this tournament,” Björkegren said afterwards. “We made some tactical adjustments after the first game, but ultimately, the girls did the biggest job.” Ghana rallied through the group, reached the semifinals for the first time in nearly two decades, and after a narrow last-four defeat, beat South Africa on penalties, Cynthia Konlan saving two spot-kicks, to claim bronze. It was Ghana’s first WAFCON podium finish since 2016, and the team came home to a heroes’ welcome at Kotoka International Airport, drums and all.
Two years on from Häuptle’s qualifying work, that bronze is now the platform. “Since I arrived, the girls have ensured Ghana remains among Africa’s top four teams,” Björkegren said in the tournament build-up. “The last time, we finished with bronze at WAFCON. Our target now is gold.” It’s a bold declaration for a team still working things out defensively; Ghana conceded 16 goals in 11 matches across 2025, a number that raises fair questions about how far belief alone can carry them.
The squad blends that bronze-medal core with fresh legs. Captain Portia Boakye, now in her fourth WAFCON and repositioned from forward to centre-back, leads a group that still features Grace Asantewaa, Evelyn Badu, Jennifer Cudjoe, Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah and Doris Boaduwaa from the 2025 run, with Sharon Sampson and Helen Alormenu, both graduates of the Black Princesses youth set-up, added for extra depth and energy.
Ghana’s route back to the semifinals runs through Group D, a group that looks winnable but is nothing close to easy: Cape Verde on 29 July, Cameroon on 2 August, and Mali on 6 August, all three matches at the Moulay Rachid Stadium in Casablanca. Cameroon in particular carry real quality, and Mali have caused upsets before. Two wins from three should be enough to top the group; anything less, and Ghana may find themselves fighting for a knockout spot rather than positioning for one.
The tournament also doubles as a qualifying route to the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup, adding extra weight to every result. Bronze was the proof that this rebuild works. Now the Black Queens have to show it wasn’t the ceiling.
