“Malawi Defeat the Worst Feeling of My 20-Year Coaching Career”- Bjorkegren
Black Queens head coach Kim Lars Bjorkegren has described Ghana’s painful 2-1 defeat to Malawi in the quarter-finals of the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations as the toughest moment of his two-decade coaching career.
Ghana appeared on course for a place in the semi-finals after Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah gave the Black Queens an early advantage in the seventh minute in Rabat.
However, Malawi responded strongly, with Temwa Chawinga restoring parity before the break. Rose Smith Kadzere then completed the comeback in the 79th minute to send the Flames into the last four.
For Bjorkegren, the defeat was particularly difficult given the opportunity Ghana had to secure direct qualification for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
“Maybe potentially the worst feeling I had in 20 years of coaching. I’m feeling so much for this team, for Ghana. I really wanted to help them to go to the first World Cup in 20 years,” Bjorkegren said after the game.
The Swedish coach admitted that Ghana had a genuine opportunity to overcome Malawi but failed to produce the level of performance required on the day.
“We felt that we had a good chance to do it today, but we didn’t perform well enough, even if it was a little bit of a 50-50 game.”
Bjorkegren also acknowledged the narrow nature of the defeat, with just one goal separating the two sides at the final whistle.
“Always when you’re in the losing team, you need to face the truth, and the fact is that we lost with one goal and now it’s really painful.”
Despite the setback, Ghana’s World Cup dream remains alive. The Black Queens will have another route to qualification through the WAFCON play-in, where they are scheduled to face Côte d’Ivoire on Thursday.
Victory in that encounter would send Ghana into the FIFA Women’s World Cup Play-Off Tournament and keep alive their hopes of ending a two-decade wait for another appearance at the global tournament.
