Ghana national under-23 football team

Ghana U23

Nickname(s)	The Black Meteors
Association	Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC)
Confederation	ANOCA (Africa)
Head coach	Ibrahim Tanko
Home stadium	Accra Sports Stadium
FIFA code	GHA
First colours Second colours
Olympic Games
Appearances	6 (first in 1964)
Best result	3rd: 1992
Africa U-23 Cup of Nations
Appearances	1 (first in 2019)
Best result	Fourth place (2019)
All-Africa Games
Appearances	5 (first in 1973)
Best result	Gold Medal (2011)
Medal record Men's Football 1992 Barcelona[1] Team All-Africa Games 1978 Algiers N/A 2003 Abuja N/A 2011 Mozambique Team

Olympic medal record
Men's Football
	1992 Barcelona	Team

Ghana U23 football team (also known as Ghana Olympic football team or Black Meteors), represents Ghana in international football competitions in Olympic Games, All-Africa Games, and CAF U-23 Championship. The selection is limited to players aged 23 and under the age of 23, except during the Olympic Games where the use of three overage players is allowed. The team is controlled by the Ghana Football Association (GFA).

The team had qualified for five straight Olympic Games Football Tournaments when the tournament was still a full senior national team competition. In 1992, they became the first African country to win a medal at Olympic Games football. The Black Meteors failed to qualify for Beijing 2008 and although being the 2011 All-Africa Games champions, the Ghana Olympic football team failed to qualify for the 2011 CAF U-23 Championship, thus did not participate in London 2012.^[2]

History

Ghana appeared in the quarter-final of the Olympic Games in 1964 where they were beaten by Romania in the quarter-final. They played in the 1968, 1972 Olympic tournaments, but never progressed further than the Group stages. They also qualified in 1976 then withdrew.

In 1992, Ghana reached the semi-final for the first time, they defeated Australia 2-0 to claim their first bronze medal in the event, and thus became the first African country to win a medal at football.

Ghana reached the quarter-finals of the Olympics football tournament in 1996 for the second time, they lost 4–2 against Brazil.

In the Athens 2004 tournament Ghana were eliminated in the Group stages after they lost a must win game 1–0 against Japan. The team were not able to qualify for Beijing 2008 and London 2012.

Results and fixtures

Legend

  Win   Draw   Lose   Fixture

2021

• Ghana under-23 Results and Fixtures – Soccerway.com
• Ghana Results and Fixtures – FIFA.com

Coaching staff

Current coaching staff

As of 28 June 2022

Position	Name
Head coach	Ibrahim Tanko
Assistant coach	Michael Osei
Assistant coach	Godwin Attram
Goalkeepers Trainer	Cudjoe Addo
Team Doctor	Christopher Adomako
Masseur	Anum George Amassah
Welfare Officer	Ablade Kumah
Equipment Officer	Emmanuel Opoku

Source: Ghana Football Association^[3]

Manager history

As of 5 June 2021 after the match against  Japan.

Manager	Period	Record
		Matches	Won	Draw	Lost	Win %
Malik Jabir	2015	–	–	–	–	–
Yusif Abubakar	2019	0	0	0	0	0%
Ibrahim Tanko[4]	2019	11	4	3	4	36.4%
Paa Kwesi Fabin[5]	2019–2020	1	0	0	1	0%
Ibrahim Tanko[3]	2022–	4	3	1	0	75%

Players

Current squad

The following players were called up for the 2023 U-23 Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches against Algeria on 24 and 28 March 2023.^[6]

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Club
	1GK	Haruna Aziz Dari	(2001-05-23) 23 May 2001 (age 22)	Bechem United
	1GK	Ibrahim Danlad	(2002-12-02) 2 December 2002 (age 21)	Asante Kotoko
	1GK	William Essu	(2002-05-09) 9 May 2002 (age 21)	Legon Cities
	2DF	Samuel Abbey-Ashie Quaye	(2001-04-14) 14 April 2001 (age 23)	Accra Great Olympics
	2DF	Emmanuel Cudjoe	(1998-04-11) 11 April 1998 (age 26)	Attram de Visser
	2DF	Aaron Essel	(2005-07-30) 30 July 2005 (age 18)	Bechem United
	2DF	David Oppong Afrane	(2002-12-03) 3 December 2002 (age 21)	King Faisal Babes
	2DF	Augustine Randolf	(2001-03-26) 26 March 2001 (age 23)	Karela United
	2DF	Godfred Poku Wakii	(2003-10-16) 16 October 2003 (age 20)	Aduana Stars
	3MF	Salim Adams	(2002-10-11) 11 October 2002 (age 21)	Cincinnati
	3MF	Emmanuel Essiam	(2003-12-19) 19 December 2003 (age 20)	Basel
	3MF	Eugene Frimpong	(2003-02-02) 2 February 2003 (age 21)	Real Valladolid
	3MF	Dominic Nsobila	(2002-12-19) 19 December 2002 (age 21)	Accra Lions
	3MF	Alex Opoku Sarfo	(2004-10-20) 20 October 2004 (age 19)	Benab
	3MF	Abass Samari Salifu	(2004-07-02) 2 July 2004 (age 19)	Accra Lions
	3MF	Seidu Saraj	(2001-01-29) 29 January 2001 (age 23)	Accra Hearts of Oak
	3MF	Simba Sylvester	(2001-07-29) 29 July 2001 (age 22)	Dreams
	4FW	Yusub Abdul Razak	(2001-12-02) 2 December 2001 (age 22)	Accra Great Olympics
	4FW	Felix Afena-Gyan	(2003-01-19) 19 January 2003 (age 21)	Cremonese
	4FW	Daniel Afriyie	(2001-06-26) 26 June 2001 (age 22)	Zürich
	4FW	Emmanuel Appau	(2002-05-04) 4 May 2002 (age 21)	Bibiani Gold Stars
	4FW	Issahaku Fatawu	(2004-03-08) 8 March 2004 (age 20)	Sporting CP
	4FW	Zubairu Ibrahim	(2004-06-02) 2 June 2004 (age 19)	Jedinstvo
	4FW	Dede Ishmael	(2001-12-10) 10 December 2001 (age 22)	Dreams
	4FW	Ernest Nuamah	(2003-11-01) 1 November 2003 (age 20)	Nordsjælland
	4FW	Emmanuel Yeboah	(2003-02-25) 25 February 2003 (age 21)	Cluj

Previous squads

African Games

• 2011 All-Africa Games – squad

Africa U-23 Cup of Nations

• 2019 Africa U-23 Cup of Nations – squads

Competitive record

Olympic Games

Summer Olympics record
Year	Round	Position	GP	W	D	L	GS	GA
1896	No football tournament	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1900	Did Not Participate	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1904	Did Not Participate	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1908	Did Not Participate	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1912	Did Not Participate	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1920	Did Not Participate	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1924	Did Not Participate	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1928	Did Not Participate	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1932	No football tournament	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1936	Did Not Participate	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1948	Did Not Participate	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1952	Did Not Participate	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1956	Did Not Participate	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1960	Did Not Participate	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1964	Quarter-finals	-	3	1	1	1	5	8
1968	Round 1	-	3	0	2	1	6	8
1972	Round 1	-	3	0	0	3	1	10
1976	Withdrew	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1980	Withdrew After Qualifying	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1984	Did Not Participate	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1988	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1992	Third place	3	6	3	2	1	9	6
1996	Quarter-finals	8	4	1	1	2	6	8
2000	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2004	Round 1	9	3	1	1	1	4	4
2008	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2012	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2016	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2020	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	Third place	6/26	22	6	7	9	31	44

Note: Football at the Summer Olympics has been an under-23 tournament since 1992.

African Games

African Games record
Year	Round	Position	GP	W	D	L	GS	GA
1965	Did Not Participate	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1969	No football tournament	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1973	Semi-finals	-	3
1978	Third place	3	3
1987	Did Not Participate	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1991	Did Not Participate	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1995	Did Not Participate	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1999	Did Not Participate	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2003	Third place	3	3
2007	Round 1	-	3	0	1	2	1	4
2011	Champions	1	4	2	1	1	6	5
Total	5/10	1 Titles	16

Note: Football at the All-Africa Games has been an under-23 tournament since 1991.

See also

• Sport in Ghana
  • Football in Ghana
    • Women's football in Ghana
• Ghana national football team
• Ghana national under-20 football team
• Ghana national under-17 football team
• Ghana women's national football team

References

External links

• Ghana national under-23 football team (Black Meteors) – official website (in English)