Ghana’s Black Stars will face Wales in a historic international friendly at Cardiff City Stadium on Tuesday, June 2, the Ghana Football Association (GFA) confirmed on Thursday, ending weeks of negotiations and setting up one of the most symbolically loaded warm-up fixtures in the team’s recent history.
The match will mark the first time Wales have ever faced an African nation in a senior men’s international on home soil, and the first-ever meeting at any level between the two countries. Wales head coach Craig Bellamy, who was part of the Welsh side that lost 4-0 to Tunisia in a 1998 away fixture — the nation’s only previous match against African opposition — will now host Ghana in what amounts to a 28-year wait for a repeat of that continental encounter.
Ghana head coach Otto Addo is expected to deploy a star-studded lineup featuring captain Jordan Ayew, Mohammed Kudus, Inaki Williams and Antoine Semenyo as the Black Stars sharpen their tactical preparations ahead of the World Cup.
Ghana’s World Cup group stage campaign opens on June 17 against Panama in Toronto, followed by the headline fixture against England on June 23 at Foxborough, Massachusetts, and closes against Croatia in Philadelphia on June 27. The Black Stars will base camp at Bryant University in Rhode Island throughout the tournament.
The Wales fixture is part of a packed preparation calendar. Ghana have already confirmed friendlies against Austria on March 27 in Vienna and Germany on March 30 in Stuttgart, with a match against Mexico also in the pipeline for June.
For Wales, the June friendly carries a conditional element. The Football Association of Wales has framed the match as a potential home send-off before the tournament, but its full significance depends on whether Craig Bellamy’s side successfully navigates their World Cup play-off pathway, which begins with a home tie against Bosnia and Herzegovina on March 26, with the winner advancing to face either Italy or Northern Ireland.
Ghana secured World Cup qualification by finishing top of CAF Group I with eight wins and one loss across ten matches. Mohammed Kudus scored the decisive goal in a 1-0 victory over the Comoros that sealed their place, sending the Black Stars to their fifth World Cup appearance.
