Ghana

The qualification-sealing fixture was the 12 October 2025 home win over Comoros at the Accra Sports Stadium. Mohammed Kudus scored the only goal of the match in the 47th minute (per Wikipedia), Ghana finished Group I unbeaten under Otto Addo, and the Black Stars confirmed direct qualification ahead of the diaspora-watched November international window. The qualification-clinching goal is the most consequential international goal of Kudus's career to date.

The Group L draw is one of the most-watched group draws of the tournament. England are the favourites on FIFA ranking, Croatia carry the 2018 World Cup runners-up DNA, and Panama are the Concacaf wild card. Ghana's path to the round of 16 routes through finishing in the top two, with the third-placed-team-bypass also live given the 32-team knockout configuration of the expanded format.

The fixture sequencing helps. Toronto for the Panama opener (17 June), then a fixture against England in the second matchday, and the Croatia closer. Diaspora fan-base in the Greater Toronto Area is among the largest African-football communities outside Africa, and the GFA confirmed in late April it would coordinate with Toronto-based fan clubs on group bookings for the tournament dates.

Queiroz replaces Otto Addo, who was dismissed on 31 March 2026 despite delivering qualification. The decision was framed by GFA leadership as a tournament-mode hire: Queiroz brings four senior World Cup head-coaching cycles (Iran 2014, Iran 2018, Egypt qualifying for 2022 narrowly missing on the Senegal playoff, and the 2010 Portugal stint), a 30-year coaching CV that includes three Manchester United assistant-manager seasons under Sir Alex Ferguson, and an explicit reputation for organising tournament-mode national teams in compressed prep windows.

His tactical model differs from Otto Addo's. Where Addo built around transitions and a hybrid 4-2-3-1 / 3-4-3, Queiroz tends toward a low-block 4-1-4-1 with a clear pressing trigger and a long-throw / set-piece bias. His Iran teams scored from set pieces at a higher rate than open play across the 2018 World Cup. The change suits a Ghana squad with Mohammed Salisu and Alexander Djiku as set-piece threats, Kudus as the No. 10 in front of a screened pivot, and Antoine Semenyo's wide running threat.

The four-month framing has been the most-discussed feature of the contract. The GFA published the terms on the federation's communications channel: $100,000 per month per Al Jazeera reporting, four-month base term through the World Cup, automatic permanent extension if Ghana reach the semi-finals. The structure is designed to align Queiroz's incentives with deep tournament progress.

Mohammed Kudus has been the senior creative reference of the post-Asamoah-Gyan generation since 2022 and joined Tottenham in July 2025 for £55m, a record fee for a Ghanaian footballer. He scored the qualifying-clinching goal vs Comoros and remains the most-followed Black Stars player in the diaspora. Wikipedia confirms 46 caps and 13 goals for Ghana per the squad listing.

Thomas Partey, the deep-lying midfielder, joined Villarreal in 2025 after the Arsenal exit and remains the senior on-pitch organiser. Jordan Ayew, the long-serving forward, holds the captain's armband per Wikipedia. The wider squad includes Kamaldeen Sulemana (Atalanta), Mohammed Salisu (Monaco), Alexander Djiku (Fenerbahçe) and Daniel-Kofi Kyereh (Sankt Pauli) as senior contributors.

Domestic-league representation has improved since the 2022 group-stage exit. Bibiani Gold Stars' 2024-25 GPL title and the broader Right to Dream / WAFA pipeline have produced senior-squad call-ups for younger Ghana-based players including Mohammed Iddris and Steven Owusu. Queiroz's first squad named for the May 2026 friendlies signalled an explicit retention of the GPL representation Otto Addo had introduced.

The AFCON 2025 qualifying failure is the most-cited single reason Otto Addo was retained for the 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign rather than dismissed in early 2024. The qualification path that followed produced the Group I title and the Comoros-clinched World Cup ticket, which justified the retention domestically. Addo was then dismissed in March 2026 once qualification was secured and the tournament-mode brief required a different profile.

AFCON 2027 in Morocco runs in late 2027. Ghana's domestic ambition (a fifth AFCON title, ending the 1982-onward drought, in the same nation that hosted the 2025 tournament won by Morocco's CAF-overturn-confirmed final) is unusually clear. Queiroz's permanent-extension clause is conditional on World Cup 2026 semi-final progression; AFCON 2027 may need a separate appointment cycle if the World Cup goal is missed.

Right to Dream Academy continues to be the most productive single feeder into the senior squad. Wikipedia's national-team squad article cross-links the academy alumni roster — Kudus, Majeed Waris, Ernest Nuamah and dozens of others. WAFA and Cheetah FC Academy round out the leading institutional pipeline.