AFCON: Former midfielder Derek Boateng reacts to Ghana’s absence

Former Ghana midfielder Derek Boateng has expressed discontent over the Black Stars failure to qualify for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.

The four time African champions missed out on the continental football showpiece after placing bottom of Group F that included Angola, Sudan and Niger.

With Ghana booking their spot at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the Africa Cup of Nations was to be a perfect platform to test their squad before the main tournament in Canada, USA and Mexico.

Boateng who played at the 2006 and the 2010 FIFA World Cup for the Black Stars shared his thoughts on the West African nation’s absence.

Ghana finished bottom of the AFCON qualifying group

“First I was surprised, I wasn’t happy at all because I feel the AFCON would have prepared us for the World Cup. Players who haven’t been to the national team before, the coach wants to see some players, they have to go through this AFCON and also in preparing ourselves for the World Cup, the AFCON is really important tournament for us to prepare ourselves for the world cup,” Derek Boateng told Sporty FM.

“But for me, we are not there, that’s football, it happens [and] we have to learn from our mistakes. We have top players, we have quality players but you can have quality players but you need to have a team.

“I feel like right now things are coming back together, we have a young coach who was my teammate but I know he is going to give a lot of players the chance to play and prove yourself and I feel like the players have to be together not just on the field and I feel Ghanaians have to support the team and with their support the team will go far.

Twenty-four countries will slug it out at the tournament that is set between December 21 and January 18.

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