World Cup 2026: Official Statistics of Black Stars
The 23rd edition of the FIFA World Cup, marking the first time it has been hosted by three North American countries, concluded on Sunday night at the New York New Jersey Stadium, featuring a total of 104 games.
The Black Stars of Ghana featured for the fifth time in the history of the competition and were placed in Group L together with nine other nations from the African continent, making ten countries in the sector to appear at the 2026 World Cup.
Opemsuo Radio’s World Cup Diaries Editorial Team has gathered statistics on Ghana’s Black Stars at the tournament, along with an assessment of the team’s performance in this prestigious football competition.
GOALKEEPING:
The Black Stars of Ghana, after four games in the World Cup, used two different shot-stoppers in goal at the tournament: Lawrence Ati-Zigi and Benjamin Asare, who shared 135 and 225 minutes, respectively, against Panama, England, Croatia, and Colombia.
Carlos Queiroz’s team maintained two clean sheets in four matches during the World Cup, ranking 5th alongside Argentina, Morocco, England, Brazil, Côte d’Ivoire, Paraguay, Switzerland, the USA, Canada, and Cape Verde.
The Black Stars of Ghana conceded three (3) goals in the four games, and they were the second-best nation to have the least number of goals conceded by far, alongside the Republic of Korea, Australia, Mexico, Portugal and IR Iran.
Lawrence Ati-Zigi and Benjamin Asare together pulled 16 saves after four games at the tournament, and they have been ranked the 14th side with the most saves in the competition along with Qatar and Sweden.
DEFENDING:
The Black Stars, managed by Portuguese tactician Carlos Queiroz, utilised eight different defenders during the World Cup. The breakdown of their playing time is as follows: Marvin Seneya logged 280 minutes, Jonas Adjetey played for 225 minutes, and Jereme Opoku contributed 270 minutes after missing the match against Croatia. Gideon Mensah participated in every match, totalling 360 minutes. Derrick Luckassen played for 180 minutes, while Alidu Seidu and Baba Rahman had the least playing time, with 77 minutes and 5 minutes, respectively.
The Black Stars of Ghana allowed three goals against Croatia and Colombia, positioning them as the second team with the fewest goals conceded; Australia, Mexico, Portugal, and Iran have an identical tally of goals conceded.
Black Stars defenders made 89.73 Ball Recoveries in games at the World Cup, which is the eighth-most after Spain, Belgium, Brazil, Norway, France, England and Argentina.
BALL DISTRIBUTION:
Black Stars in the competition had Caleb Yirenkyi, Elisha Owusu, Thomas Partey and Kwesi Sibo as their outfield midfielders in games, with Yirenkyi having the most minutes amongst them.
The Stars officially made 1,397 passes, making them the 34th country, with 1,172 of those passes becoming complete, to be ranked 35th. They were the 30th-ranked side of the tournament after 84% passing accuracy and, of course, 31 Take-ons completed.
ATTACKING:
Carlos Queiroz’s team show low marks in the attacking options of the competition, as they recorded two goals in four games to be ranked 35th. They recorded a higher number of goals than Panama, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Scotland and Curaçao.
Ghana had a few moments of goal attempts, with 23 attempts at goal; they were ranked the 43rd side in the tournament, beating Iraq, Uzbekistan, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and Qatar to have the fewest goal attempts.
Ghana, during the World Cup 2026, had only three attempts on target in four games played; they had more attempts on target than Iraq, which produced only two attempts on target.
