On paper, it is a proud week for Ghana football. Antoine Semenyo is up for African Player of the Year, Caleb Yirenkyi is up for Young Player of the Year, and both the Black Stars and Black Queens are nominated for team honours at the CAF Awards 2026.
Then you look at the AFCON qualifying table, and the mood changes. Ghana are bottom of their group, without a permanent head coach, with a must-win game next Thursday. So let’s look at both sides of the story.
Who Ghana has on the CAF Awards 2026 lists
The ceremony takes place in Lagos, Nigeria, on Monday, December 7. These are Ghana’s main nominees reported so far.
- Men’s Player of the Year: Antoine Semenyo
- Men’s Young Player of the Year: Caleb Yirenkyi
- Men’s National Team of the Year: Black Stars
- Women’s Player of the Year: Portia Boakye
- Women’s Goalkeeper of the Year: Cynthia Konlan
- Women’s National Team of the Year: Black Queens
We earlier reported the Black Stars’ team nomination. Here is how the individual races look.
Can Semenyo really win it?
He has a real case, but look at the competition. MyJoyOnline lists nine others: Amad Diallo, Yoane Wissa, Ismael Saibari, Achraf Hakimi, Brahim Diaz, Ismaila Sarr, Pape Gueye, Sadio Mane and Teboho Mokoena. Hakimi is the reigning winner, according to the Ghana News Agency.
Semenyo’s strongest argument is his club form. He helped Manchester City win the FA Cup and the Carabao Cup, and he became the first Ghanaian named in the PFA Premier League Team of the Year.
The history makes this interesting. CAF has run this award itself since 1992, and Abedi Pele won it that year. No Ghanaian has won it since. A nomination is not a trophy, but a win would end a wait of more than three decades.
Yirenkyi’s big year
At 20, Caleb Yirenkyi has had a year most players can only dream of. He scored Ghana’s stoppage-time winner against Panama at the World Cup, and that victory helped the team reach the knockout stage for the first time since 2010.
He then moved from FC Nordsjaelland to Coventry City, who were newly promoted to the Premier League. Graphic reports it was a club-record deal. The clubs have not disclosed the fee, and media estimates vary.
His rivals include Algeria’s Ibrahim Maza, Cameroon’s Christian Kofane, Morocco’s Abdellah Ouazane and Ayoub Bouaddi, Senegal’s Ibrahim Mbaye and Ivory Coast’s Yan Diomande and Christ Inao, as MyJoyOnline reports. It is a strong field, with several players worth watching for years.
So why are fans worried?
Because awards look back over a long stretch, and the most recent form looks very different.
MyJoyOnline’s report lays it out clearly. The Black Stars won five of six matches to qualify for the World Cup, but they have just one victory in their last eight matches across all competitions.
In AFCON qualifying, Ghana lost 2-0 to Ivory Coast in Bouake and 4-2 to The Gambia in Accra. Those results led the GFA and coach Carlos Queiroz to part ways by mutual agreement. Ivory Coast and The Gambia both have six points in Group C. Ghana have none.
Kim Lars Bjorkegren is now interim head coach, assisted by Ibrahim Tanko and Godwin Attram, while a five-member committee works on recommending a new coach. Remember also that Ghana missed the last AFCON in Morocco. Missing a second one in a row would hurt badly.
The real test: Somalia in Sekondi
The first of two games against Somalia is on Thursday, November 12, and the second is on November 16. The GFA has confirmed the Sekondi Sports Stadium will host the first match, on temporary approval from CAF.
That approval points to a wider problem. According to the report, CAF’s requirements still outstanding at the stadium include dressing room upgrades, working drainage and irrigation, CCTV and improved media facilities. For now, Ghana’s national team is relying on a temporary pass.
On the pitch, Somalia are the kind of opponent Ghana is expected to beat. But the Black Stars have not been in a position to take anything for granted this year.
Three questions to think about
- Who should Ghana back to win most? Semenyo, Yirenkyi or one of the Queens?
- Should the Black Stars even be celebrating this nomination, with results as they are?
- Can the interim team turn it around in two matches?
An award night in Lagos on December 7 would be a wonderful moment. But for most Black Stars fans, six points against Somalia would matter a lot more.
So what’s your verdict? Can Semenyo become Ghana’s first winner of the CAF award since Abedi Pele? And what score are you predicting in Sekondi? Let’s hear it in the comments.
Featured image: Antoine Semenyo (11) playing for Ghana against England at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Photo: Bryan Berlin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped).
