Ghana captain Abdul Aziz Issa says the experience gained at the FIFA U-15 World Cup and Festival 2026 in Azerbaijan will be important to the group’s development.
Ghana finished seventh out of 189 countries after an impressive campaign in which they won eight of their 10 matches.
“I think we played well, the exposure was good for our development, and we can’t thank FIFA and the GFA enough for this amazing platform,” Issa said.
The captain said he was proud to have represented Ghana at the tournament and paid tribute to his team-mates for their contribution to the country’s progress.
“I’m so very happy to be part of this FIFA U-15 World Cup and Festival 2026 in Azerbaijan. I want to thank my colleagues for how far we have brought Ghana in this tournament,” he added.
Issa believes the lessons from the competition will help prepare the players for the challenges they will face at Under-17 and Under-20 level.
Ghana were among the tournament’s top seven teams, scoring 44 goals across their 10 matches. Their group-stage campaign highlighted both their attacking strength and defensive organisation, with the side scoring 27 goals and conceding only three.
Salifu Fatawu’s team began the competition with a 4-1 win against Uzbekistan before recording a 7-1 victory over Myanmar.
They then produced successive 7-0 victories against Guam and the Bahamas. Ghana completed the group stage with a closely contested 2-1 win over Kazakhstan.
Their hopes of achieving a higher overall position were ended in the knockout phase when they lost to Paraguay in a dramatic match.
Ghana’s final ranking of seventh came after they secured eight wins from 10 games. They ended their campaign with a commanding 4-0 victory over Colombia.
That result followed a 7-1 defeat by Brazil in the Tier A Ranking Play-Offs, but Ghana still completed the tournament among the seven highest-placed teams from the 189 participating countries.
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