AFCON, Olympics, CHAN: Tournaments Ghana has missed under Kurt Okraku

Since Kurt Okraku assumed office as Ghana Football Association president in October 2019, Ghana’s national teams have endured a worrying run of missed opportunities on the international stage, failing to qualify for several major tournaments across the senior, women’s, youth and Olympic categories. From the Black Stars’ historic absence from the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations to repeated Olympic and youth-team failures, the setbacks have raised questions about Ghana’s ability to consistently compete for places at Africa’s biggest football tournaments. This piece takes a look at major tournaments Ghana has missed since Okraku took charge of the GFA. Olympic setbacks Ghana missed the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in both men’s and women’s football. NSA Director-General Yaw Ampofo Ankrah sacked The country then suffered another double disappointment by failing to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics in both categories. The men’s team had not appeared at the Olympics since 2004, when Okraku’s GFA entered the 2023 U-23 AFCON qualification campaign with the explicit objective of ending that 19-year absence. Youth teams lose ground The Black Starlets missed the 2023 U-17 AFCON after losing 1-0 to Burkina Faso in the WAFU Zone B semi-final. Burkina Faso and Nigeria subsequently secured the two qualification places. The Black Satellites also missed the 2023 U-20 AFCON, bringing an end to Ghana's participation after winning the competition in 2021. The absence also meant missing the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup, which was tied to the U-20 AFCON qualification pathway. Ghana then missed the 2025 U-17 AFCON, continuing concerns about the country's youth development pipeline. Black Queens and Black Stars disappoint The Black Queens missed the 2022 Women's AFCON, while the biggest senior-team setback came when the Black Stars failed to qualify for the 2025 AFCON. Ghana finished bottom of Group F with three points and failed to win any of their six qualifiers, missing the AFCON for the first time since 2004. CHAN disappointment The Black Galaxies also missed the 2025 CHAN after Nigeria eliminated Ghana 3-1 on aggregate in the final qualifying round. FKA/AMSource: www.ghanaweb.com
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