Ghana has been drawn in Group I for the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers alongside West African rivals Mali.
The four-time African champions will have to top the group which also includes Comoros, Madagascar, Central African Republic, and Chad to automatically qualify for the World Cup to be hosted in the USA, Canada, and Mexico.
Should they fail to do this, they will have to be amongst the top four runners-up in the group stage.
These four teams will face off in a mini-tournament with the winner playing in an intercontinental play-off match for a place in the mundial.
In the expanded World Cup, Africa will be represented by nine to ten teams.
Ghana’s record with some of the teams in the group in recent times has not been the best, with a 1-1 draw against Central African Republic in June 2022 in Cape Coast, a 3-2 defeat to Comoros that led to the team crashing out of the 2021 AFCON in the group stages.
The Black Stars of Ghana were also recently held to a boring goalless draw against Madagascar in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
Ghana has appeared at the World Cup four times with their last being at the 2022 tournament in Qatar, where they were eliminated at the group stage.
Meanwhile, the top seed side in the group Mali is yet to taste World Cup football and was denied a place in the competition by Ghana in 2010.
The qualifiers will begin on November 13, 2023.