Black Queens coach Kim Lars Björkegren has admitted that Ghana’s painful 2-1 defeat to Malawi at the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations ranks among the toughest moments of his coaching career.

Ghana took an early lead in the quarter-final but failed to hold on, with Malawi completing the comeback to end the Black Queens’ hopes of reaching the semi-finals.

The defeat also denied Ghana automatic qualification for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup, making the setback even more difficult for Björkegren and his players.

Reflecting on the loss, the Swedish coach said the missed opportunity to take Ghana back to the global stage made the defeat particularly painful.

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"Maybe potentially the worst feeling I had in 20 years of coaching. I'm feeling so much for this team, for Ghana. I really wanted to help them to go to the first World Cup in 20 years and we felt that we had a good chance to do it today. But we didn't perform well enough even if it was a little bit of a 50-50 game,” he said.

Björkegren acknowledged that Ghana had to accept responsibility for the result despite how closely contested the game was.

“Always when you're in the losing team you need to face the truth and the fact is that we lost with one ball and now it's really painful," he added.

Despite the disappointment, Ghana’s World Cup hopes are not over.

The Black Queens will face Côte d’Ivoire in a playoff in Casablanca on Thursday, August 13, 2026, with the winner securing a place at the 2027 Women’s World Cup.

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