The Black Stars of Ghana have failed to qualify for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations after playing out a 1-1 draw against Angola in their Group F qualifier on Friday.
Softfootball understands that the result officially ends Ghana’s hopes of reaching the tournament in Morocco, marking their first AFCON absence since the 2004 edition in Tunisia.
The four-time African champions travelled to Luanda needing a victory to keep their qualification hopes alive after failing to win any of their previous four qualifying matches.
Captain Jordan Ayew gave Ghana the perfect start, opening the scoring in the 18th minute to raise hopes of a crucial victory.
However, already-qualified group leaders Angola responded in the second half through Ambrosini Salvador, who equalised in the 64th minute to deny the visitors all three points.
The draw leaves Ghana rooted to the bottom of Group F, four points behind second-placed Sudan with only one round of fixtures remaining, making qualification mathematically impossible.
The Black Stars entered the decisive encounter severely depleted, with eight players from the original squad unavailable through injury, including Bournemouth striker Antoine Semenyo.
Despite producing arguably their best performance of the qualifying campaign, Ghana were unable to secure the result they desperately needed.
The failure continues a difficult period for the West African giants, who were eliminated in the group stage at both the 2021 and 2023 Africa Cup of Nations before now missing out on qualification altogether for the first time in over two decades.
