Björkegren labels Ghana dark horse ahead of South Africa WAFCON clash

Ghana coach Kim Lars Björkegren has labelled the Black Queens as underdogs heading into their opening fixture of 2024 CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) against South Africa at the Honneur Stadium in Oujda, Morocco on Monday.

The Black Queens will come up against a Banyana side, who will be defending the title they won in 2022. According to Björkegren, who will be overseeing his first WAFCON since joining Ghana, they have the quality in this group to beat all of the teams in this tournament.

“As a coach, I need to show my players that they can trust me in difficult situations, and I think they do. Of course, we know that we are a little bit of an underdog or a dark horse, we are not one of the biggest favourites that people are talking about, but I know that we have the quality in this group to beat all of the teams in this tournament. I think we can have a really good chance to be successful,” said Björkegren.

“I have coached in many countries and growing up I used to watch the men’s AFCON. I am so happy to be here and looking forward to tomorrow’s match against South Africa.

“People always ask me a question about pressure and if I’m nervous and those kinds of things, for me it’s very clear if you are a coach at this level, you may be a little bit nervous, but you have to control what you can control.”

Mali and Tanzania will contest the other Group C match at Berkane Stadium in Berkane, on Monday. The Ghanaians will return to the women’s continental competition after an absence of seven years – the last time they featured was back in 2018 when they were playing hosts.