Although they didn’t make their first FIFA World Cup appearance until 2006, Ghana has a long history of dominance in African football. They won their third Africa Cup of Nations title in 1978 and received the original trophy, called the Abdelaziz Abdallah Salem Trophy, to keep forever. Overall, they are four-time winners and four-time runners-up in the Africa Cup of Nations Tournament.
In 2006, Ghana was the youngest team to take the field during the World Cup with an average age of 23 players. Although they were ultimately knocked out of the tournament in the second round by Brazil, their impressive first-round victories over the USA and the Czech Republic drew a lot of attention.
The team likely to head to Johannesburg is, on average, slightly older now and features a number of players who are big-league stars, including Chelsea midfielder Michael Essien and former MLS striker Junior Agogo, the latter of whom is the team’s top scorer.
Locally, the Ghana national team is known as the Black Stars and is currently managed by Milovan Rajevac, a former Serbian professional soccer star. He was only appointed in 2008 after Frenchman Claude LeRoy stepped down, though under him the team achieved its highest FIFA ranking, on 14, in February 2008.
Their all-time top scorer is Abedi Pelé with 33 goals in 73 appearances, and he is also their all-time leading “cap” in most appearances in international competitions.
