Ghana national football team

Infobox National football team
Name = Ghana
Badge =
Badge_size = 114px
FIFA Trigramme = GHA
FIFA Rank = 25
1st ranking date = August 1993
FIFA max = 14
FIFA max date = February, April, May 2008
FIFA min = 89
FIFA min date = June 2004
Elo Rank = 37
Elo max = 14
Elo max date = 30 June 1966
Elo min = 97
Elo min date = 14 June 2004
Nickname = The Black Stars
Association = Ghana Football Association
Confederation = CAF (Africa)
Coach = Flagicon|Serbia Milovan Rajevac [cite news | date=2008-08-12 | url=http://ghanafa.org/blackstars/200808/3105.asp | title=Rajevac named new Ghana coach | publisher=Ghana FA | accessdate=2008-08-12]
Captain = Stephen Appiah
Vice-Captain = John Mensah
Most caps = Abédi Pelé (73)cite web|url=http://www.uefa.com/competitions/meridiancup/news/kind=1/newsid=1880.html |title=All-Stars clash kick off in Bari |accessdate=2007-04-06 |date=1 February 2001 |work=Meridian Cup |publisher=UEFA]
Top scorer = Abédi Pelé (33)
Home Stadium = Ohene Djan Sports Stadium
Overall Record = P - 474 W - 225 D - 120 L - 129
pattern_la1=_blackborder|pattern_b1=_thinblacksides|pattern_ra1=_blackborder|leftarm1=FFFFFF|body1=FFFFFF|rightarm1=FFFFFF|shorts1=FFFFFF|socks1=FFFFFF
pattern_la2=_yellowshoulders|pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=_yellowshoulders|leftarm2=FF0000|body2=FF0000|rightarm2=FF0000|shorts2=FF0000|socks2=FF0000
First game = flagicon|Gold Coast Gold Coast 1-0 Nigeria )
Largest win = fb|Kenya 0-13 fb-rt|Ghana|1964 (Nairobi, Kenya; 12 December 1965)cite web|url=http://www.rsssf.com/tablesk/kenya-intres.html |title=Kenya International Matches |accessdate=2007-04-10 |date=1 February 2000 |work=Kenya International Matches |publisher=RSSSF]
Largest loss = fb|Brazil 8-2 fb-rt|Ghana|name=Ghana (São José do Rio Preto, Brazil; 27 March 1996)cite web|url=http://www.newsrunner.com/archive/NW170496.HTM |title=BLACK METEORS HUMILIATED 8-2 BY BRAZIL |accessdate=2007-02-01 |date=3 April 1996 |work=Ghanaian News Runner |publisher=newsrunner.com] cite web|url=http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~nfm24/football/1996ic1.html |title=1996 INTERCONTINENTAL MATCHES |accessdate=2001-02-01 |date=1 February 2001 |work=Author: Neil Morrison |publisher=srcf.ucam.org]
World cup apps = 1
World cup first = 2006
World cup best = Round 2, 2006
Regional name = African Nations Cup
Regional cup apps = 16
Regional cup first = 1963
Regional cup best = Winners, 1963, 1965,
1978, 1982

The Ghana national football team, popularly known as the "Black Stars", is the national association football team of Ghana and is controlled by the Ghana Football Association. Before gaining independence from Great Britain in 1957, the country played as the "Gold Coast".

Although the team did not qualify for the senior FIFA World Cup until 2006 they had actually qualified for five straight Olympic Games Football Tournaments when the tournament was still a full senior National Team competition. The team have won the African Cup of Nations four times [cite news | date=2004-01-16 | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/africa/3396199.stm | title=African Football: The early years | publisher=bbc.co.uk | accessdate=2004-01-16] (in 1963, 1965, 1978, and 1982), making Ghana the second most successful team in the contest's history, behind Egypt.

Ghanaian teams has enjoyed considerable success at in FIFA's age-restricted tournaments. The Ghana U17 team, the "Black Starlets", have won the FIFA Under-17 World Cup title twice and finished as runner-up twice. The Ghana U20 team, the "Black Satellites", have also finished as runner-up at the FIFA Under-20 World Cup twice. The Ghana Olympic Team, the "Black Meteors", became the first African Country to win a medal in Football at the 1992 Summer Olympics.

After going through 2005 unbeaten, Ghana won the FIFA World Rankings [http://www.fifa.com/en/mens/statistics/index/0,2548,112618,00.html?articleid=112618 Most Improved team of the year award] and they reached [http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/w/bracket.html the second round] of the 2006 Germany World Cup.

History

The Ghana Amateur Football Association was founded in 1957, soon after the country's independence, and was affiliated to both CAF and FIFA the following year, Englishman George Ainsley being appointed coach of the national team.

In 1960, the Black Stars played Spanish giants Real Madrid, who were at the time Spanish, European and intercontinental champions, and drew 3-3.

Charles Kumi Gyamfi became coach in 1961, and Ghana won successive African Cup of Nations titles, in 1963 and 1965, and achieved their record win, 13-0 away to nft|Kenya, shortly after the second of these. They also reached the final of the tournament in 1968 and 1970, losing 1-0 on each occasion, to nft|DR Congo and nft|Sudan respectively. Their domination of this tournament earned the country the nickname of "the Brazil of Africa" in the 1960s [cite news | date=2004-01-01 | url=http://www.panapress.com/can2006/winners.htm | title=African Football: ANC winners from 1957 to 2002 | publisher=panapress.com | accessdate=2004-01-01] .The team had no success in FIFA World Cup qualification during this era, and failed to qualify for three successive African Cup of Nations in the 1970s, but qualified for the Olympic Games Football Tournaments, reaching the quarter finals in 1964 and withdrawing on political grounds in 1976 and 1980.

Ghana again won the African Cup of Nations in 1978, retaining the Abdelaziz Abdallah Salem Trophy in perpetuity for having won it three times, and 1982, but a relatively barren period followed, with the full national team dominating the short lived West African Nations Cup from 1982-87, but making little progress in continent-wide competitions until the appointment of Burkhard Ziese as coach in 1991. The 1992 African Cup of Nations, after three failures to reach the final tournament, saw Ghana finish second, beaten on penalties in the final by nft|Côte d'Ivoire.

Disharmony among the squad, which eventually lead to parliamentary and executive intervention to settle issues between two of the team, Abedi Pele and Anthony Yeboah, may have played some part in the failure of the team to build on the successes of the national underage teams. Ghana slipped to 89th place in the FIFA World Rankings, but a new generation of players who went to the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship final became the core of the team at the 2002 African Cup of Nations and the 2004 Olympic Games, and were undefeated for a year in 2005 and reached the finals of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the first time the team had reached the global stage of the tournament. Ghana started with a 2-0 defeat to eventual champions nft|Italy, but wins over the nft|Czech Republic (2-0) and nft|USA (2-1) saw them through to the second round, where they were beaten 3-0 by nft|Brazil.

Team honours

*sport honours|African Cup of Nations|4|1963, 1965, 1978, 1982

*sport honours|African Cup of Nations runners-up|3| 1968, 1970, 1992

*sport honours|West African Nations Cup|5|1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987

*sport honours|All-African Games|2 Bronze medals|1978, 2003

World Cup record

*1930 to 1958 - "Did not enter"
*1962 - "Did not qualify"
*1966 - "Withdrew"
*1970 to 1978 - "Did not qualify"
*1982 - "Withdrew"
*1986 to 2002 - "Did not qualify"
*2006 - Round 2

African Nations Cup record

Current squad

Head coach: Flagicon|Serbia Milovan Rajevac Appointed on 12 August, 2008

;Midfielders

Previous Nations Cup squads

*Ghana Squad - 1963 African Cup of Nations
*Ghana Squad - 1965 African Cup of Nations
*Ghana Squad - 1968 African Cup of Nations
*Ghana Squad - 1970 African Cup of Nations
*Ghana Squad - 1978 African Cup of Nations
*Ghana Squad - 1980 African Cup of Nations
*Ghana Squad - 1982 African Cup of Nations
*Ghana Squad - 1984 African Cup of Nations
*Ghana Squad - 1992 African Cup of Nations
*Ghana Squad - 1994 African Cup of Nations
*Ghana Squad - 1996 African Cup of Nations
*Ghana Squad - 1998 African Cup of Nations
*Ghana Squad - 2000 African Cup of Nations
*Ghana Squad - 2002 African Cup of Nations
*Ghana Squad - 2006 African Cup of Nations

Famous players

Ghana has had great players in their rich history from the early 1950s, through the 1960s ANC Championship sides to 1970 when CAF instituted a new African Footballer of the Year Best player Awards to the 1990s when Abédi Pelé and Tony Yeboah received FIFA World Player of the Year top ten nominations and the 2000s when Sammy Kuffour and Michael Essien became FIFA World Class Players and received Ballon d'Or nominations. Ghana has never been short of talent. Abédi Pelé is one of the "FIFA 100" greatest living footballers of all-time.

On 13 January 2007, the Confederation of African Football voted Abedi Pele, Michael Essien, Tony Yeboah, Ibrahim Abdul Razak and Samuel Kuffour as members of the [http://www.cafonline.com/news.php?id=1073 CAF Top 30] Best African Players of all-time. In addition, Abedi and Yeboah were voted as members of the [http://www.iffhs.de/?d847e4a89bccdc475cfc5ffce81005fdcdc3bfcdc0aec70aeecf8a3c15 Africa Best Player of the Century] in 1999 by IFFHS.

*Arthur Wharton - English Football Hall of Fame 2003, first black association professional footballer though he preceded the 'Black Stars' era and played mainly in England.
*Abédi Pelé - FIFA 100, [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/fifa-awards.html#player WPOY Nom.1991, 9th 1992] , 1991, 1992, 1993 APOY Winner, [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/afrpoy85.html APOY Nom. 85] , [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/afrpoy86.html 86] , [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/afrpoy87.html 87] , [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/afr-poy.html 88] , [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/afrpoy89.html 89] , [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/afrpoy90.html 90] , [http://www.cafonline.com/news.php?id=1073 5th Best African Player of All-Time]
*Karim Abdul Razak - 1978 APOY Winner, [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/afrpoy83.html 6th 1983] , [http://www.cafonline.com/news.php?id=1073 26th Best African Player of All-Time]
*Ibrahim Sunday - 1971 APOY Winner
*Samuel Kuffour - [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/europa-poy01.html Ballon d'Or Nom. 2001] , [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/afrpoy99.html APOY Runner-up 1999] , [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/afrpoy01.html 2001] , [http://www.cafonline.com/news.php?id=1073 27th Best African Player of All-Time]
*Tony Yeboah - [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/fifa-awards.html#player WPOY 9th 1993] , [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/europa-poy95.html Ballon d'Or 23rd 1995] , [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/afrpoy93.html APOY Runner-up 1993] , [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/afrpoy92.html 3rd 1992] , [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/afrpoy91.html 6th 1991] , [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/afrpoy96.html 10th 1996] , [http://www.cafonline.com/news.php?id=1073 24th Best African Player of All-Time]
*Michael Essien - FIFA World Player of the Year – 22nd 2005, 22nd 2006, 15th 2007; Ballon d'Or – [http://www.francefootball.fr/FF/BALLON_OR_2007.html 24th 2007] [http://www.francefootball.fr/FF/LAUREAT_2006.html 27th 2006] , [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/europa-poy05.html 22nd 2005] ; APOY – [http://www.goal.com/en-india/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=574199 2nd 2007] , [http://cafonline.com/news.php?id=1111 3rd 2006] , [http://access.fifa.com/en/article/0,4151,114792,00.html 3rd 2005] , [http://www.cafonline.com/news.php?id=1073 11th Best African Player of All-Time]
*Robert Mensah - [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/afrpoy71.html APOY Runner-up 1971] , [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/afrpoy70.html 9th 1970]
*Adolf Armah - [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/afrpoy79.html APOY Runner-up 1979]
*Opoku Nti - [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/afrpoy83.html APOY Runner-up 1983]
*Mohammed Polo - [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/afrpoy77.html APOY 4th 1977]
*Nii Lamptey - [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/afrpoy91.html APOY 5th 1991] , [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/fifa-awards.html#met FIFA U-17 Golden Ball, Silver Shoe] 1991
*Yaw Sam - [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/afrpoy73.html APOY 6th 1973]
*Malik Jabir - [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/afrpoy72.html APOY 7th 1972]
*Albert Asaase - [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/afrpoy82.html APOY 7th 1982]
*Charles Akunnor - [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/afrpoy98.html APOY 7th 1998]
*Osei Kofi - [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/afrpoy70.html APOY 8th 1970]
*Opoku Afriyie - [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/afrpoy82.html APOY 8th 1982]
*Stephen Appiah - [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/afrpoy03.html APOY 8th 2003]
*Daniel Addo - [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/fifa-awards.html#met FIFA U-17 Golden Ball 1993]
*Ishmael Addo - [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/fifa-awards.html#met FIFA U-17 Golden Shoe 1999]
*Owusu Afriyie - FIFA U-17 Bronze Shoe 1997

Other notable players

*Charles Kumi Gyamfi
*Cecil Jones Attuquayefio
*Charles Addo Odametey
*Sammy Adjei
*Dodoo Ankrah
*Baba Yara
*Dogo Moro
*Kofi Pare
*Emmanuel Oblitey
*Joe Aikins
*Sam Acquah
*E.J. Aggrey-Fynn
*Mohammed Salisu
*Wilberforce Kwadwo Mfum
*Kuuku Dadzie
*Edward Ansah
*John Eshun
*Joseph Agyeman Gyau
*Addoquaye Laryea
*Ofei Dodoo
*Willie Klutse
*Hesse Odametten
*Dan Owusu
*Kwesi Owusu
*Seth Ampadu
*George Alhassan
*John Essien
*Haruna Yusif
*Acquaye McLean
*John S. Bannerman
*Ben Acheampong
*Owusu Mensah
*Kofi Badu
*Joseph K. Carr
*Oliver Acquah
*Edward Acquah
*Sampson Lamptey
*Isaac Paha
*Offei Ansah
*Windsor Kofi Abbrey
*Thomas Hammond
*Prince Polley
*Akwasi Appiah
*Emmanuel Ampiah
*Nii Darko Ankrah
*Anthony Baffoe
*Sarfo Gyamfi
*Stephen Frimpong Manso
*Stanley Aborah Snr
*Edward "Opeele" Aboagye
*Akwasi Appiah
*George Arthur
*Yaw Acheampong
*Shamo Quaye
*Frank Amankwah
*Emmanuel Duah
*Samuel Johnson
*Isaac Asare
*Alex Nyarko
*Frank Amankwah
*Augustine Ahinful
*Agyeman Duah
*Awudu Issaka
*John Mensah
*Isaac Boakye
*Tony Osei Kwadwo
*Kwame Ayew

Technical staff

^Won African Cup of Nations during tenure

Competitive Statistics

;FIFA World Cup Record:

West African Nations Cup [SCSA Zone III] Record
*The Tournament was not held in 1985.

Trivia

*Ghana hosted and won the Original African Cup of Nations Trophy (Known as The Abdelaziz Abdallah Salem Trophy) for Keeps in 1978 as they became the first Country to win three Nations Cup titles [cite news | date=2001-09-25 | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/africa/1562471.stm | title=African Nations Cup trophy revealed | publisher=bbc.co.uk | accessdate=2001-09-25] .

*In the final of the 1992 African Cup of Nations on 26 January 1992, Ghana was defeated 11-10 by the Côte d'Ivoire in the highest-scoring penalty shoot-out in International football competition at the time- the 24-shot shoot-out, when Ghana played their record 7th African Cup of Nations final game. Ghana captain and influential play maker Abédi Pelé, who won the best player of that tournament was suspended for the final because of yellow card accumulation from the 2-1 semi-final win over Nigeria.

*Of the 32 countries which participated in the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Ghana was ranked the 13th Best Nation by FIFA. [cite web | last = Yahoo News | first = | title = Defunct Link | url=http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/060718/1/8sse.html | accessdate = 2008-05-28 ]

*Kwesi Owusu, former Black Stars captain, was the first footballer to score a goal at the Munich Olympic Stadium during the 1972 Olympic Games. His photograph still stands erect at one of the Olympic Villages in Olympiapark, Munich, Germany.

ee also

* 1963 African Cup of Nations - "Host"
* 1978 African Cup of Nations - "Host"
* 2000 African Cup of Nations - "Co-Host"
* 2008 African Cup of Nations - "Host"
* African Footballer of the Year

External links

* [http://www.ghanasoccernet.com/Ghanasoccernet.com] -The No.1 Site For Ghana Soccer
* [http://www.ghanafa.org/ Ghana Football Association] - Official website
* [http://discussions.ghanaweb.com/viewforum.php?f=2/ Ghana Football Forum] - Official Fan Forum
* [http://www.ghanacan2008.com/ 2008 African Cup of Nations website] - Official Tournament Home
* [http://www.ghanaleague.com/ Ghana Premier League website]
* [http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/w/team/overview.html?team=GHA Ghana's 2006 FIFA World Cup Profile]
* [http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/SportsArchive/ Ghanaweb Sports Page]
* [http://www.rsssf.com/tablesg/gha-intres.html RSSSF Archive of all Ghana Matches]
* [http://www.ghanablackstarslive.com/canhistorydetails.php?hid=1 History of Ghana at the African Cup of Nations]
* [http://www.vibeghana.com Latest Ghana Soccer News]
* [http://sports.thinkghana.com/ghanacan2008 Ghana CAN 2008] - African Cup of Nations News
* [http://ghana.forums-free.com/ Ghana soccer Forum] - Number one Fan Forum

References