Ghana’s Black Queens may have crashed out of the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, but their dream of reaching the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil is still alive.

The Black Queens suffered a heartbreaking 2-1 quarterfinal defeat to Malawi on Sunday, August 9, missing the opportunity to secure automatic qualification for the World Cup. Malawi’s victory sent them into the WAFCON semifinals and directly to Brazil 2027.

However, Ghana still have another lifeline.

Under FIFA’s qualification format, all four WAFCON semifinalists automatically qualify for the 2027 Women’s World Cup. But the four teams eliminated in the quarterfinals are not immediately out of the World Cup race. Instead, they will compete in African playoff matches, with two winners advancing to the FIFA Women’s World Cup Play-Off Tournament.

Ghana Must Beat Côte d’Ivoire

The Black Queens will now face Côte d’Ivoire in a crucial playoff after the Ivorians were eliminated 2-1 by Algeria in their quarterfinal.

Victory over Côte d’Ivoire would not send Ghana directly to Brazil. Instead, it would secure the Black Queens one of Africa’s two spots in the FIFA intercontinental playoff tournament, where countries from different confederations will fight for the remaining World Cup places.

That means Ghana’s road to Brazil now has two major hurdles: beat Côte d’Ivoire first, then survive the FIFA playoff tournament.

The stakes could hardly be higher for a Black Queens side desperate to return to the biggest stage in women’s football. Ghana have not appeared at the FIFA Women’s World Cup since 2007, having previously competed at the 1999, 2003 and 2007 editions.

So despite the pain of losing to Malawi, Ghana are down but definitely not out.

One more African battle stands between the Black Queens and a shot at completing a sensational World Cup qualification comeback.