Spokesperson of the Ghana Football Association, Henry Asante Twum, believes the UEFA International Tournament will afford the Black Starlets the necessary experience to help them make a return to the Africa U-17 Cup of Nations.

Ghana last qualified for the AFCON in 2017, where the team finished second after losing to Mali in the final in Gabon.

Ahead of Ghana's hosting of the WAFU U17 tournament next month, the Black Starlets travelled to Russia for the UEFA U17 international tournament as part of preparations. The U17 side lost their opening game against the host on Wednesday.

"As we host the tournament, our ambition is that we host and win, then qualify for AFCON, because like you rightly said, we have not qualified since 2017," he told Citi Sports.

"Under Paa Kwesi, we finished second, Mali beat us in the final, we went to the World Cup, where we exited I think in the second round, so we want to make it to Africa. We hosted one in Cape Coast and we lost to Burkina in the semi-final," he added.

"We know that if we make it to Africa, this time round, we will go a step further, so we have to qualify for Africa."