Black Princess during training
Ghana’s Black Princesses will enter the 2026 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Poland with several key players missing from their squad.
The tournament gets underway in five days, with Ghana preparing for their eighth consecutive appearance at the competition.
However, the Black Princesses are yet to progress beyond the group stage in any of their previous seven outings.
Coach Charles Sampson has named his final squad, but injuries and club-related issues have ruled out some important players.
Linda Owusu Ansah is arguably the biggest absentee. The Black Princesses captain secured Ghana’s World Cup qualification with the decisive goal against Uganda in Kampala but suffered an ACL injury in August.
The injury occurred during the closing stages of the Black Queens’ 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifying play-off against Côte d’Ivoire in Casablanca.
Comfort Yeboah will also miss the tournament after Ghana could not reach an agreement with her Spanish club, Logroño United, over her release. The defender had already featured for the Black Queens at the 2026 WAFCON.
Jessica Appiah Asamoah, who played in every qualifier and was expected to be one of Ghana’s players to watch, suffered a knee injury shortly before the team travelled to Poland.
Mercy Attobrah is another notable absence. The striker scored in both of Ghana’s matches against Tunisia during the qualifiers but has been recovering from an ACL injury suffered while playing for her Egyptian club.
Mary Amponsah, who replaced Attobrah during the qualifiers, is also unavailable after suffering an ACL injury in the second leg against South Africa. She has since undergone surgery.
The Black Princesses begin their campaign against Ecuador on September 5, before facing South Korea and France in the group stage as they aim to finally break their group-stage curse.
BY Wletsu Ransford