Black Princesses eliminated from group stages of U-20 World Cup

The Black Princesses went into the decisive encounter needing a positive result to have a chance of reaching the knockout stage for the first time in the team’s history.

Ghana started brightly and thought they had taken the lead when Priscilla Mensah found the back of the net, but the effort was ruled out for offside.

The Black Princesses then produced a disciplined defensive display to keep France at bay, with the two sides going into the half-time break goalless.

France, however, found the breakthrough nine minutes after the restart when they scored in the 54th minute.

The French side doubled their advantage in the 68th minute before Ghana’s hopes suffered another blow when Ruth Amponsah was penalised for handball inside the box.

France converted the resulting penalty to establish a 3-0 lead.

The European side added a fourth goal in the 85th minute to complete a convincing victory and bring Ghana’s campaign to an end.

The defeat leaves the Black Princesses at the bottom of Group C with three points from three matches. Ghana opened the tournament with a 3-0 defeat to Ecuador before responding with an impressive 3-1 victory over South Korea.

The early exit means Ghana have once again failed to progress beyond the group stage of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup.

It is the eighth consecutive time the Black Princesses have failed to reach the knockout stage. Ghana made their debut at the tournament in 2010 and have now appeared at eight editions without advancing from the group stage.

The Black Princesses had entered the 2026 tournament hoping to finally break that long-standing barrier after securing an eighth successive qualification by defeating Uganda 3-2 on aggregate in the final round of African qualifying.

Instead, Charles Sampson’s side leave Poland with one victory and two defeats from their three Group C matches, ending another campaign without a place in the knockout rounds.