Ghana is set to embark on their journey towards the 2026 FIFA World Cup with a home fixture against Madagascar in November 2023, as the full schedule for the qualifiers has been unveiled.
The Black Stars find themselves placed in Group I alongside Mali, Comoros, Central African Republic, Chad, and Madagascar. This grouping was determined during the draw ceremony held in July.
Kicking off their quest for a spot in the global football spectacle in 2026, Ghana will host Madagascar, also known as the Barea, between November 13 and 21. Following this, the team will travel to Comoros for their second qualifying match during the same November period. The remaining eight matches are scheduled for 2024 and 2025.
With their sights set on a fifth appearance in the World Cup after participating in 2006, 2010, 2014, and the most recent edition in Qatar last year, the Black Stars will strive to secure their place. Among the teams in Group I, Ghana is the sole participant to have made it to the World Cup finals, as Mali, Madagascar, Central African Republic, Comoros, and Chad have yet to achieve this feat.
The qualification process involves a home-and-away round-robin format within each of the nine groups. The winners of these groups will automatically secure their spots in the FIFA World Cup 2026. Additionally, the four best group runners-up will proceed to a play-off stage to determine the representative of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) at the FIFA play-off tournament.
The FIFA play-off tournament will feature one team from each of FIFA’s six confederations, excluding UEFA, along with one additional team from the host confederation (Concacaf). Among these teams, two will be seeded based on the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking. The seeded teams will compete for a FIFA World Cup berth against the winners of the initial two knockout matches involving the four unseeded teams.
Below is the complete fixture list for Ghana in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers:
November 13 – 21, 2023: Ghana vs Madagascar || Comoros vs Ghana
June 03 – 11, 2024: Mali vs Ghana || Ghana vs Central African Republic
March 17 – 25, 2025: Ghana vs Chad || Madagascar vs Ghana
September 01 – 09, 2025: Chad vs Ghana || Ghana vs Mali
October 06 – 14, 2025: Central African Republic vs Ghana || Ghana vs Comoros
