Ghana forward Kamaldeen Sulemana has expressed his deep disappointment following the Black Stars’ failure to qualify for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).
For the first time in over 20 years, Ghana will miss out on Africa’s premier football competition after finishing at the bottom of their qualifying group. The four-time African champions endured a challenging campaign, managing only three draws and suffering three defeats in six matches.
Speaking in an interview with Showmax, the Southampton winger didn’t hold back on his emotions.
“We are very disappointed. There are no words to describe how sad we feel. We really missed out big time, and this is a huge blow for the whole country,” Sulemana told Showmax.
While the Black Stars have found some redemption with their recent form in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, Sulemana admits that the sting of missing AFCON still lingers.
“Even though we are doing well in the World Cup qualifiers, our failure to qualify for AFCON is still in the back of our minds. How did we miss out on AFCON, miss out on a local one like this? AFCON is so different from every other tournament, and we take so much pride in taking part in AFCON, so we are greatly disappointed.”
The 22-year-old lamented Ghana’s poor performances in recent AFCON editions and expressed regret over missing the chance to turn things around this year.
“Obviously, Ghana hasn’t won AFCON in a long time, and we really want to take it home, so we are really sad we haven’t qualified. We also didn’t perform well in the last two AFCON tournaments, so we were hoping to make this year a great one. We as players take the blame and take full responsibility for not qualifying, and we have apologised to the country and our fans. We want to do well in the World Cup qualifiers and in the World Cup,” he added.
Despite the setback, there is a silver lining. The Black Stars remain in contention for a place at the 2026 World Cup after back-to-back wins during the March international window, offering hope for a brighter future.
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