Ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup Fantasy campaign, we’re taking a closer look at each nation competing at this summer’s tournament – highlighting their recent form, qualifying matches, key players and more.

Here we take a look at the prospects of Ghana.

This will be Black Stars’ fifth outing at the World Cup finals. Their most memorable showing came in 2010 when they came within a Luis Suarez handball and an Asamoah Gyan penalty miss of reaching the semi-finals. That would have made them the first African side to reach the last four of the big one.

Since then, they have failed to live up to their nickname, crashing out at the group stage in 2014 and 2022.

The bookies are not sweet on Carlos Queiroz’s side’s chances of finishing in the top two, but they may not need to.

Coming third in a group containing England, Croatia and Panama will not be a disgraceful performance, and may be enough for a Round-of-32 place.

SQUAD

There are several notable absentees from Carlos Queiroz’s squad, which certainly weakens their prospects of a repeat of 2010. Attacking midfielder Mohammed Kudus, centre-halves Mohammed Salisu and Alexander Djiku, and full-back Tariq Lamptey are all missing due to injury.

36-year-old Andre Ayew, Ghana’s most capped player, has been deemed surplus to requirements by Queiroz.

Ghana’s hopes may therefore rest on Antoine Semenyo ($7.2m), who is fresh off an excellent Premier League (and Fantasy Premier League!) season with Bournemouth and Manchester City, and Andre’s younger brother Jordan Ayew ($5.3m), Ghana’s captain.

The one story that won’t go away is the presence of Thomas Partey ($6.2m). The former Arsenal midfielder will stand trial in the UK later this year, yet has been made vice-captain for the finals.

THE ROAD TO QUALIFICATION

Ghana breezed through their qualifying campaign, losing only once, drawing once, and winning their remaining eight matches.

They came through both matches against their chief threat, Mali, and made short work of their other opponents, with the exception of Comoros, putting nine goals past Central African Republic, six past Chad and four past Madagascar.

Only two African teams scored more than their 23 in qualification.

Slightly alarmingly, 22 African teams averaged fewer shots conceded per game than Ghana (9.9).

Their xG was superior to their xG conceded, indeed:

Above: African teams ranked by xG and xG conceded in qualification

BIGGEST GOAL THREATS IN QUALIFICATION

Jordan Ayew continued to deliver for Ghana in qualifying. The 34-year-old, who is now out of contract after a disappointing season with Leicester, top-scored for the Black Stars with seven goals from 18 shots and led the way on xG with a figure of 3.14.

Partey scored the next most goals (three from nine shots), while Inaki Williams ($5.9m), Salisu, Kudus and Ernest Nuamah ($5.0m) all weighed in with two each.

Semenyo featured third highest in the xG ranking (2.66) but scored only once, despite a typically high shot count of 16.

MOST CREATIVE PLAYERS IN QUALIFYING

Jordan Ayew was also top dog in terms of goal creation, rattling off six assists, 26 key passes and an xG assisted number of 3.55. He was comfortably ahead of Kudus (two from 19 key passes) and defender Gideon Mensah ($3.9m, two from nine), while Semenyo offered next to nothing in terms of goal creation.

It is clear that Ghana leaned heavily on the Ayew and Kudus for attacking returns in qualifying, which suggests Queiroz could have his work cut out to solve that problem in a tough group.

SINCE QUALIFICATION

Since assuring their place at the World Cup, Ghana – who failed to qualify for the 2025 edition of AFCON – have not exactly pulled up any trees. The aforementioned injuries to key players have not helped their cause but five defeats and a draw with Wales make for grim reading.

While it is true that they have not played any easy opponents over the last eight months, it is hard to draw many positives from losses to Japan, South Korea, Austria (a shellacking), Germany and Mexico.

This probably explains why the Ghanaian FA dispensed with Otto Addo in April and charged Queiroz with the improbable task of turning things around in the space of 80 days. The former Manchester United assistant manager is a pragmatic man and will be looking to make his side harder to beat.

The sweltering conditions should suit Ghana better than, say, England and Croatia, and so he will almost certainly look to park the bus, and hope Semenyo’s pace and finishing can save the day.

Queiroz has overseen only two friendlies, fielding two entirely different teams. The first, against Mexico, occurred before many domestic seasons ended and featured a makeshift XI.

So, all eyes on the recent friendly against Wales. This is how Queiroz set up (via BBC Sport):

Ghana had only 33% possession and 11 shots to Wales’s 18. But the African side had five shots on target to the hosts’ three, one of which was scored by substitute Caleb Yirenkyi ($4.7m), who pounced on the rebound after Karl Darlow had parried Nuamah’s shot.

Semenyo played in neither of those matches and so Ghana can be expected to have a sharper cutting edge, and certainly more shots, with the Man City man in the line-up.

WORLD CUP FIXTURES

Ghana will need to get off to a good start in their opening match, when they face Panama in Toronto on 18 June. The Central Americans have not kept a clean sheet since November, so this is the fixture for which Queiroz will need to release the handbrake.

If there are any early adopters of Ghana assets, it’s probably abandon ship after Round 1. England await next.

However, how Ghana approach Croatia in Philadelphia on 27 June all depends on what has happened until this point. If Croatia have already qualified, they might put their big, and very old, guns like Luka Modric, Ivan Perisic and Andrei Kramaric in cold storage, offering up the chance for Ghana to give it a go. More likely, though, is that Ghana will adopt the same approach as against England and hope to tire out those ageing Croatian legs.

TOP FANTASY PICKS

At 34, Jordan Ayew ($5.3m) is no spring chicken, but he proved in qualifying what a key player he is for his country, top-scoring with seven goals, and delivering an impressive six assists.

In what is probably his last World Cup, he will be desperate to go out with a bang and finally emerge from the long shadow of his father, the great Abdi Pele.

He looks to be first in line for penalties, corners and direct free-kicks.

Fellow Fantasy forward Antoine Semenyo ($7.2m) has not really fired yet in a Ghana shirt, but his outstanding 2025/26 at club level suggests he has what it takes to shine this summer. Much depends on whether a defensive-minded side can carve out the chances he will need to thrive, but his direct running and penchant for shooting on sight make him a live threat. He is a good option for Matchday 1, when the Black Stars ned to hit the ground running, and Matchday 3, when Ghana may need to go hell for leather against Croatia.

Given that Ghana will be fielding a makeshift centre-back pairing and are facing two World Cup heavyweights in the group stage, defensive and goalkeeping options are best avoided for now.

Off the back of one friendly, it’s not even totally clear which centre-half partnership and goalkeeper Quieroz will favour.

The full-backs were already uncertain before the change in manager, with midfielder Yirenkyi even featuring at right-back under Oddo.