Black Stars head coach, Otto Addo’s second coming was met with mixed reactions. While some supported him as the most familiar to handle the team, others questioned his maturity, his tactical prowess, especially after the Black Stars' group-stage exit at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2022 under his leadership.

However, his recent record as the first coach in Ghana’s football history to oversee the team’s qualification to the world’s biggest football tournament, the 2026 FIFA World Cup, twice, has sparked some confidence from fans about his competency, as well as questions surrounding his ability to take Ghana past the group level due to the inconsistencies in performances.

However, the Ghana Football Association (GFA) spokesperson has risen to his defence, noting that he is better equipped to handle the pressures of the global showpiece.

“Otto Addo is now a mature coach, and I don’t think he will make mistakes at the World Cup,” he told Asempa FM.

The Black Stars will open their 2026 FIFA World Cup campaign against Panama on June 17 in Toronto, before facing England on June 23 in Boston. They will conclude the group stage against Croatia on June 27 in Philadelphia.

The group opponents were confirmed following the official draw held on Friday at the John F. Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. The high-profile ceremony was attended by notable figures, including U.S. President Donald Trump, entertainers Kevin Hart and Heidi Klum, and sports icons such as Tom Brady, Shaquille O’Neal, Rio Ferdinand, and Ghana football legend Asamoah Gyan.

The 2026 tournament will mark Ghana’s fifth appearance at football’s biggest stage, following previous participations in 2006, 2010, 2014, and 2022. The Black Stars’ most memorable World Cup performance came in 2010, when they reached the quarter-finals in South Africa.

Addo is expected to release the final squad list for the 2026 World Cup in June this year.

World Cup ticketing

A global statement shared by FIFA suggests that half a million requests for tickets have been made from across the world for tickets for the upcoming World Cup in June.

The statement shared on the football governing body on Wednesday, January 14, mentioned that, “more than half a billion ticket requests submitted during the Random Selection Draw ticket sales phase, which ran from Thursday, 11 December 2025 to Tuesday, 13 January 2026.

FIFA said it received approximately 15 million ticket requests daily over the about a month application window, marking a new record in the history of football.

Given the outstanding requests, FIFA President Gianni Infantino expressed his excitement and gratitude to fans all over the world for the massive response.

“Half a billion ticket requests in just over a month is more than demand – it’s a global statement. On behalf of FIFA, I would like to thank and congratulate football fans everywhere for this extraordinary response,” said FIFA President Gianni Infantino.

He continued, "Knowing how much this tournament means to people around the world, our only regret is that we cannot welcome every fan inside the stadiums. That is why we are committed to creating multiple ways for fans to be part of the FIFA World Cup 2026, through a wide range of fan experiences beyond the stadiums, both in person and online, so that as many people as possible can share in what will be the biggest sporting event ever staged."

How FIFA will handle ticketing for the 2026 World CupFollowing the closure of the application period, FIFA says it will check if all requests meet requirements and if they do and the requests exceeds the tickets available, it will randomly issue the tickets to ensure fairness.

“Following the closure of the Random Selection Draw application period, FIFA Ticketing will verify that ticket requests meet the application requirements and household limits before allocating tickets. Once this process is concluded, and where demand exceeds available inventory, tickets will be allocated via a random selection process to ensure fairness and equal opportunity for all applicants,” the statement noted.

For fans who qualify for the tickets, they will be emailed by February 5 noting that “fans will be notified of the outcome of their ticket applications by email no earlier than 5 February. All successful and partially successful ticket applicants will receive communications via email and subsequently will be automatically charged for their tickets. A partially successful application indicates that a fan will receive the number of tickets requested for a match, but not all matches requested.”

“With each application validated by unique credit card data, fans placed an average of 15 million ticket requests per day over the 33-day application window, setting a new benchmark for demand in the history of world sport”, parts of the statement said.

Out of the over 500 million ticket requests, the majority came from Germany, England, Brazil, Spain, Portugal, Argentina and Colombia, aside from the host countries; USA, Mexico and Canada.

It added that, “The most coveted match in this sales phase was Colombia v. Portugal on Saturday, 27 June in Miami. The top 5 was completed by Mexico v. Korea Republic in Guadalajara on Thursday, 18 June; the final in New York New Jersey on Sunday, 19 July; the tournament’s opening match between Mexico and South Africa in Mexico City on Thursday, 11 June; and the round-of-32 match in Toronto on Thursday, 2 July – highlighting the exceptional appeal of both marquee fixtures and knockout-stage encounters across all three host nations”.