Mercy Tagoe-Quarcoo Backs Black Queens to Reach 2027 Women’s World Cup
Former Black Queens head coach Mercy Tagoe-Quarcoo remains optimistic about Ghana’s chances of qualifying for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup, despite the team’s failure to secure automatic qualification at the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.
The Black Queens missed out on a direct ticket to the tournament in Brazil after suffering a 2-1 quarter-final defeat to Malawi at the Al Madina Stadium in Rabat.
Ghana’s hopes of reaching the global showpiece have therefore shifted to the WAFCON play-in route, with the Black Queens set to face Côte d’Ivoire on Thursday, August 13.
A victory over their West African rivals would send Ghana into the FIFA Women’s World Cup Play-Off Tournament and keep their qualification campaign alive.
Tagoe-Quarcoo believes the team can still achieve its objective.
“I believe that Ghana will qualify for the Women’s World Cup, and I am confident about that, but the only challenging aspect is that the playoff games are a lot, and that could affect the team,” she told Asempa FM.
The WAFCON play-in system provides another pathway for teams that exit the continental tournament at the quarter-final stage to compete for places at the expanded 2027 Women’s World Cup.
The first phase of the play-off tournament is scheduled for November and December 2026 at a centralised venue. Six teams, including two African representatives, will compete for progression to the final phase.
The two best-performing teams from that opening stage will advance to the final round in February 2027, where they will be joined by four teams from Concacaf, CONMEBOL and UEFA.
Those six teams will then be divided into three knockout paths, with the winner of each path earning a place at the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil.
For Ghana, however, the complicated qualification process can only continue if the Black Queens first overcome Côte d’Ivoire.
With the immediate objective firmly in sight, the Black Queens will need to put their disappointment against Malawi behind them and produce a victory on Thursday to keep their World Cup dream alive.
