Charles Kumi Gyamfi became coach in 1961, and they won successive African Cup of Nations titles, in 1963 and 1965. The Black Stars achieved their record win, 13–2 away to Kenya, after the second of these.[14] They reached the final of the tournament in 1968 and 1970, losing 1–0 on both occasions, to DR Congo in 1968 and Sudan in 1970.[15] Their domination of the tournament earned them the nickname "the Black Stars of Africa" in the 1960s.[16]
Fortunes changed for the Black Stars however, after they failed to qualify for 3 successive African Cup of Nations in the 1970s.[17] In the early 1980s however, with emerging talents such as Abedi Pele, the Black Stars beat Libya in the 1982 African Cup of Nations final hosted by Libya to win their fourth and to date, last continental title.[18] Fortunes changed again however, as in the 1984 tournament, they were knocked out in the group stages, and did not qualify for the 1986, 1988 and 1990 tournaments.[19] In 1992 however, the Black Stars would come runners-up to the Ivory Coast in a penalty shootout after a goalless draw, which saw every player on the pitch take a penalty, in which they were beaten 11-10.[20] The Black Stars were at a disadvantage however, as African Footballer of the Year winner and the tournament's best player, Abedi Pele, had been suspended for the final.[21]
Tensions among the squad led to the parliamentary and executive to intervene and settle issues between star players Abedi Pele and Tony Yeboah. In the 1990s, this may have played some part in the failure of the team to build on the successes of the national underage teams. However, the generation of Black Stars players who went to the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship final became the "core" of the team at the 2002 African Cup of Nations, going undefeated for a year in 2005 and qualifying for the final tournament of the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The Black Stars started by succumbing to a 2–0 defeat to eventual champions Italy, and wins over Czech Republic (2–0) and United States (2–1). This saw them advance through to the second round, where they lost 3–0 to Brazil.[22]
Under head coach Milovan Rajevac, the Black Stars went on to secure a 100% win record in their qualification campaign, winning their group and becoming the first African team to qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. In the final tournament, they were placed in Group D with Germany, Serbia and Australia, advancing to the round of 16 where they played the United States, winning 2–1 in extra time to become only the third African nation to reach the World Cup quarter-finals. They then lost to Uruguay in a penalty shootout in the quarter-finals, after Uruguayan forward Luis Suárez blocked a header with his hand in the penalty box in extra time and was sent off. Asamoah Gyan missed the penalty given for the handball, with the score remaining at 1-1. Ghana went on to lose the penalty shootout 4-2, not making it to the semi-finals which would have been the first time an African country qualified for the semi-finals of a World Cup.[23]
In 2013, it became the only team in Africa to reach 4 consecutive semi-finals of the CAF Africa Cup of Nations twice, the first time since between 1963 and 1970.[24]
The Black Stars were sufficiently ranked by FIFA to start their qualifying for the 2014 World Cup in the second round. They won their group, and in the following round qualified for the 2014 World Cup finals in November 2013, after beating Egypt 7–3 on aggregate in a 2-legged play-off.[25] They were drawn in Group G for the finals, where they faced Germany, Portugal, and the United States.[26] They exited in the group stages recording 1 draw and 2 losses. However, they were the only team to not lose to Germany in the tournament, and the only team to hold onto a lead against the Germans at any point, drawing 2-2 (and leading 2-1) with the eventual winners.
In the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, they reached the final, to be denied the title on penalties against Ivory Coast. While their 2017 Africa Cup of Nations campaign ended in a 4th place finish - the third one in 4 consecutive editions of the tournament - in the qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup, they finished behind Egypt and Uganda in their final group. At the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, they were eliminated by Tunisia in the Round of 16. In 2021, Manager Rajevac was brought back, but the Black Stars ended up failing to win a match at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations where they lost 2–3 to debutants the Comoros after an André Ayew red card to finish bottom of their group. Thus, they failed to progress beyond the group stage for the first time since 2006. They drew 0–0 in a match against Nigeria and drew 1–1 in Nigeria to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup on away goals.[27] During the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Ghana lost their first match against Portugal (3–2). They earned their first and only victory in their second match against South Korea 3–2 after an insane thriller. In a "must win match to qualify" against Uruguay, the opponent that kicked out Ghana 12 years ago, Ghana instead lost 2–0 and thus finished bottom; however, despite failing to avenge the loss, South Korea's 2–1 win over Portugal ensured Ghana to have a consolation prize by also sending out Uruguay from the competition on the virtue of goals scored.
Adopted following the independence of Ghana in 1957, the black star has been included in the Black Stars' kits. The Black Stars' kits were sponsored by Puma SE from 2005, with the deal ending in 2014.[28]
Badge and anthem
Between 1990 and 2006 the Ghana national team used the kit in the colours of the national flag of Ghana, with gold, green and red used, as in the team's crest and also known as the Pan-African colours. The gold with green and red kit concept and design was used in the 60s and 70s, and designed with gold and green vertical stripes and red shoulders. An all black second kit was introduced in 2008 and in 2015, Black Stars' gold-red-green coloured kit and all black coloured kit is to be reassigned to the position of 1st and 2nd kits following the induction of a brown with blue and gold coloured Black Stars 3rd kit in 2012.[29][30]
The Black Stars had no official head because of "corrupt" practices[33][34][35] by the then president, Kwesi Nyantakyi[36] and vice-president George Afriyie,[37] with Frank Davis as director of football, and Edward Bawa as treasurer.[38] The Ghana Football Association (GFA) signed a CN¥92.2 million (US$15 million) deal with Ghanaian state-run oil and gas exploration corporation, Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), to sponsor the Black Stars and the renewable contract saw the oil and gas exploration corporation become the global headline sponsor of the Black Stars, with a yearly Black Stars player salary wage bill,[39][40] following the gold mining corporations Ashanti Goldfields Corporation and Goldfields Ghana Limited (GGL), which had been sponsoring the Black Stars since 2005.[41]
On 28 August 2013, Ghana Football Association (GFA) launched a TV channel and named GFA TV. The channel has the exclusive rights to broadcast all the Black Stars' matches.[42] In November 2013, the Black Stars signed a 2013–2015 CN¥30.6 million (US$5 million) and an additional classified multi-million private bank sponsorship deal with the Ghanaian state-run private banking institution UniBank.[43]
Ghana Supporters Union at an AFCON 2015 match between Ghana and Guinea
The Black Stars maintain an average stadium match attendance of 60,000+ and a match attendance high of 80,000+, such as in the case of its 2010 FIFA World Cup quarter-final against Uruguay which was attended by 84,017 spectators.[44] Ghana's match against England on 29 March 2011 had the largest away following for any association football national team since the re-opening of Wembley Stadium in 2007.[45] The match was watched by 700 million people around the world.[45]
A rivalry is with the Super Eagles, the Nigeria national team. The "Battle of Supremacy on the Gulf of Guinea" is between two of the "most successful teams on the African continent".[47] The proximity of the two countries to each other, a dispute between the different association football competitions and wider diplomatic competition for influence across West Africa add to this rivalry.[47][48] The match between these two countries is called the Jollof derby.[49]
Other rivalries include the rivalry with Egypt and international rivalries with USA as well as Uruguay.
Match schedules are broadcast in English as in the case of inter-continental matches and in Akan nationally by Adom TV, PeaceFM, AdomFM and HappyFM. During the scheduled qualification for the 2014 World Cup national broadcaster GTV, a sub-division of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), broadcast to the Ghanaian public home qualifiers with away qualifiers broadcast by the satellite television broadcasting corporation Viasat 1. The friendly match against Turkey in August 2013 was televised by Viasat 1 and the qualifiers for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations and the 2018 Inter-Continental Championships are scheduled for public broadcast by the corporations GFA TV, GBC and Viasat 1.[50]
Products including books, documentary films, Azonto dances and songs have been made in the name of the team. These may be intended with commercial motives and are focused on previous and future World Cups or Africa Cup of Nations tournaments.
Books: books have been published on the team's history and participation in tournaments. These include Ghana, The Rediscovered Soccer Might: Watch Out World!,[51] about the history and performance of the Black Stars and association football national teams that the Black Stars have played against, and The Black Stars of Ghana by Alan Whelan;[52] about Black Stars commencing their progress through the final rounds of the 2010 World Cup and into the quarter-finals.
Documentary films: In 2010 Miracle Films Ghana Limited showcased a vintage documentary film picture, Kwame Nkrumah & Ghana's Black Stars, about Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah "Africa's man of the 2nd millennium" and "Pan-African pioneer",[53] who invested energy into making Ghana's association football national team – the Black Stars – a force in African soccer.[54]
Dances: upon the Black Stars scoring against opposition teams, dance forms of the Ghanaian Azonto were performed by Black Stars players in their goal celebrations in match victories at the 2010 World Cup and in 2013, an elite dance version of the Ghanaian Azonto named; "(Akan: Mmonko)" (shrimp), was established and showcased at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations by the Black Stars players.[55] Black Stars goal celebrations in match victories at the 2014 World Cup and upon scoring against opposition teams, are to establish and showcase Alkayida.[56]
Songs: On occasions of past World Cups or African Championships, a number of musicians with music producers created hiplifefootball songs which were composed in the Akan language – the 2006 World Cup song, "Akan: Tuntum Nsorom Ye Ko Yen Anim", (Black Stars, We are moving forward) musical composed by the Musicians Union of Ghana, is to motivate the Black Stars to perform creditably in its quest for the capturing of the World Cup trophy.[57] Black Stars' captain and top-goalscorer Asamoah Gyan recorded and released a Hiplife song with 'Castro The Destroyer', where he features under the alias 'Baby Jet'. The song is entitled "African Girls" and is sung in the Akan language and was launched onto the Ghanaian screens, continental West Africa screens and onto the Sub-Saharan Africa screens. The music video shows the "Asamoah Gyan Dance" goal celebration which he demonstrated at the 2010 World Cup. The song "African Girls" won an award at the Ghana Music Awards in 2011. The 2010 World Cup song, "Ghana Black Stars (Official Song 2010 World Cup)" composed by Ghanaian hiplife music group "Kings and Queens Entertainment" approved by the Ghana Football Association (GFA) as GFA has indicated that the Black Stars are a protected brand.[58]
The football association of Ghana (GFA) administers national teams at different levels, including 1 for the local national team. The team is restricted to players who only play in the local league, thus the Ghana Premier League. It is nicknamed Local Black Stars.[77][78][79]
Ghana have qualified for 4 FIFA World Cup tournaments; 2006, 2010, 2014, and 2022. In 2006, it was the only African side to advance to the second round of the World Cup in Germany, and was the 6th nation in a row from Africa to progress beyond the group stages of the World Cup.[89] It had the youngest team in the 2006 edition with an average age of 23 years and 352 days,[89] and were praised for their improving performance.[90][91]FIFA ranked it 13th out of the 32 countries who competed in the tournament.[92]
After beating Egypt 7–3 on aggregate in November 2013, it qualified for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.[95] It was drawn in Group G with Germany, United States and Portugal.[96] For the first time, it fell in the group stage, tying Germany 2–2 and
losing to the United States and Portugal by 2–1.[97]
At the 2015 AFCON vs. Guinea in the quarter-finals.
The Black Stars of Ghana have won the Africa Cup of Nations four times: in 1963, 1965, 1978, and 1982, bettered only by Cameroon and Egypt. As the first winner of three AFCON tournaments, Ghana obtained the right to permanently hold the trophy in 1978.[98]
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