Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana confront new reality
Group B winners Côte d’Ivoire and last year’s bronze medalists Ghana find themselves between a rock and a hard place when the two neighbours faceoff on Thursday at the Larbi Zaouli Stadium in Casablanca at 18h00.
With one more chance to feature at the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027 in Brazil, the two teams will be treating this fixture like a final. Côte d’Ivoire have only participated once – back in 2015 and Ghana were last at the global stage in 2007.
The stakes are high. The winner of this tie will qualify for the inter-confederation playoffs with the preliminary phase set to be played in a centralized venue featuring six teams ranked on the latest global rankings prior to the tournament.
There will be two teams from Africa and Asia, one from Oceania and South America to make six. The top two will then move on to the final phase where they will come up against two teams from the CONCACAF region, one from South America and Europe each.
Lady Elephants hungry for more
Côte d’Ivoire, who came into the TotalEnergies CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations 2026 thanks to the decision to expand from 12 to 16 teams, came out of the group stages flying and looked unstoppable.
With the highest number of goals scored across all 16 teams – eight in total and a stylish way of attacking upfront, the Lady Elephants were cruising until an unexpected red card to arguably their best player on the pitch – N’Sira Ouedraogo changed the direction of their fate.
Down to 10 players in the 42nd minute, Côte d’Ivoire fell to Algeria and missed out on an automatic place to the World Cup and an opportunity to play in the semifinals to fight for the title. The defeat was hard on the entire team but according to head coach Reynald Pedros, they have had time to grieve and allow themselves to move on.
“We had two ways to qualify for the World Cup and we would have preferred to go automatically. The quarterfinal result was hard on us and we needed some time to adapt to our new reality. I know the potential of this group. I am a very optimistic person and I know that we can turn things around. We have to continue fighting. This match against Ghana is an important one. It will be our last game at the tournament and we hope to wrap up on a good note,” explains Pedros who previously qualified Morocco to their first ever World Cup in 2023.
His captain Bernadette Amani Kakounan echoes her coach’s words, “We would have loved to play the semifinals but we have been handed another opportunity to go to the World Cup. We shall do everything possible to win this game and make our fans happy back home.”
Kakounan, who was involved in 25 duels against Algeria, the most of any player in the match will be hoping to replicate that form against the Black Queens of Ghana on Thursday.
Black Queens chase generational revamp
In years past, Ghana were perennial World Cup participants – qualifying for three straight editions including 1999, 2003 and 2007. But have been absent from the next four editions.
According to defender Josephine Bonsu, this squad wants to change that.
“We understand that this generation can turn things around. We are still making so many people proud with how we are performing. We know what we expect from ourselves. We won the bronze last year and we expected more from this edition. We had an opportunity that was so close to us – to qualify automatically, it hurts but we also know that we can do a lot for Ghana,” she says.
Her head coach Kim Lars Bjökegren points out, “We wish that we had played the semifinals but we are not. Now, we have to deal with Côte d’Ivoire to grab an opportunity to play at the World Cup. We have to prepare in the best way.”
Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire have met three times in less than two years with the most recent being in a friendly match to build up for the WAFCON 2026 on July 14. Sharon Sampson’s line goal in the 75th minute was enough to seal the win for the Black Queens at the Père-Jégo Stadium in Casablanca.
They settled for a 3-3 draw in another friendly game in May 2025 before Côte d’Ivoire won 1-0 the next month.
The Stat of the Day
Ghana have played West African opponents 14 times previously at the WAFCON, recording five wins, five draws and four defeats. Of those 14 meetings, Ghana have faced Nigeria nine times and Mali four times. Ghana are unbeaten in their last three WAFCON games against West African opposition.