Eight more foreign-based players have beefed up the Black Meteors camp ahead of their crucial 2023 Under-23 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) final-round tie with Algeria.
Ghana are scheduled to travel for the first leg on Friday, March 24 at the 19 May 1956 Stadium in Annaba. They will then host the second leg at Baba Yara Sports Stadium four days later.
Head coach Ibrahim Tanko had named midfielder Kwame Afriyie Adubofour Poku as the only foreign-based player in his initial 24-man squad for the tie.
He has now added more quality to his options by recruiting some of Ghana’s brightest talents abroad within the U-23 category.
They include FC Basel midfielder Emmanuel Essiam, Abdul Fatawu Issahaku of Sporting Lisbon, Emmanuel Yeboah of CFR Cluj, Alex Sarfo, Ernest Nuamah (FC Nordsjaelland), Zubairu Ibrahim, former Hearts of Oak midfielder Adams Salim and Daniel Afriyie Banierh who now plays for FC Zurich.
These foreign-based players have all arrived in Accra and teamed up with the local component ahead of the trip for the first leg.
The aggregate winner qualifies for the Afcon in Morocco later in November. The 2023 U-23 Afcon will serve as a qualifying tournament for football at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Africa has three automatic slots with the fourth-placed team getting a playoff chance against an opponent from Asia.
Ghana last featured at the Olympics in 2004 which had Athens as the host.
