Black stars will face South Africa on November 15 in AFCON World Cup qualifying campaigns and Afcon tournaments.
It is one that appears unaffected by the recent xenophobic attacks that threatened to turn South Africa into a pariah once again – Zambia and Madagascar pulled out of playing friendlies against Bafana in September – but who can predict the reception the national team will get in Accra.
The Black Stars appear to matter little to Ghanaians at the moment. There is not much talk on Ghana’s otherwise noisy sports radio scene about the country’s national football team. The future of coach Kwesi Appiah has barely figured in the news. And it seems to be business as usual.
Hosts Cameroon has an automatic spot in the tournament, but will take part to gain competitive match practice – this means Cape Verde, Mozambique and Rwanda will contest the available two spots in Group F.
Of the 54 member countries of CAF, only Eritrea and Somalia did not enter the competition.
Black Stars 2021 AFCON qualifiers:
15 November 2019
Ghana vs South Africa (H)
19 November 2019
Soa Tome e Principe vs Ghana (A)
4 September 2020
Ghana vs Sudan (H)
8 September 2020
Sudan vs Ghana (A)
10 October 2020
South Africa vs Ghana (A)
13 November 2020
Ghana vs Sao Time e Principe (H)
CONFIRMED GROUPS FOR CAMEROON 2021 AFCON QUALIFIERS:
Group A: Mali, Guinea, Namibia, Chad.
Group B: Burkina Faso, Uganda, Malawi, South Sudan
Group C: Ghana, South Africa, Sudan, Sao Tome
Group D: DR Congo, Gabon, Angola, The Gambia
Group E: Morocco, Mauritania, Central African Republic, Burundi
Group F: Cameroon (Q), Cape Verde, Mozambique, Rwanda
Group G: Egypt, Kenya, Togo, Comoros
Group H: Algeria, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana
Group I: Senegal, Congo, Guinea-Bissau, eSwatini
Group J: Tunisia, Libya, Tanzania, Equatorial Guinea
Group K: Ivory Coast, Niger, Madagascar, Ethiopia
Group L: Nigeria, Benin, Sierra Leone, Lesotho