Black Maidens return to FIFA U17 Ladies’s World Cup after dramatic Penalty Shootout win over Senegal • Sahara Soccer

Ghana’s Black Maidens have secured qualification to the FIFA U17 Ladies’s World Cup Morocco 2026 after defeating Senegal 7-6 on penalties in an exhilarating final-round qualifier on the Accra Sports activities Stadium on Saturday, July 11, 2026.

The tense encounter ended 1-1 after 90 minutes, the identical scoreline recorded within the first leg in Dakar, forcing the qualification battle to be determined from the penalty spot.

Senegal shocked the house crowd early within the sport, taking the lead within the tenth minute by means of a well-taken free-kick to place the guests forward.

Ghana responded strongly and continued to push for an equaliser earlier than the break. Their efforts have been rewarded within the forty fourth minute when captain Seidatu Wahab completed off a well-worked workforce transfer to revive parity and ship the Accra Sports activities Stadium into celebration.

Neither aspect may discover a winner after the interval, leaving the combination rating tied at 2-2 and sending the competition right into a dramatic penalty shootout.

Within the shootout, each groups confirmed nerves and willpower, however Ghana held their composure to prevail 7-6.

Senegal missed two spot kicks, with one effort going huge of the submit and one other crashing towards the crossbar, whereas Ghana additionally missed one penalty after having an earlier kick saved.

The decisive second got here when Jessica Appiah Asamoah stepped as much as convert the ultimate penalty, sending Ghana by means of to their fifth FIFA U17 Ladies’s World Cup look.

The qualification marks a major return for the Black Maidens, who have been unable to take part in worldwide competitions between 2022 and 2024 on account of CAF sanctions.

Ghana’s U17 ladies’s workforce has a proud historical past on the world match, having made their debut in 2008. Their best-ever efficiency got here in 2012 in Azerbaijan, the place they gained a historic bronze medal after defeating Germany 1-0 within the third-place playoff.

The Black Maidens additionally reached the quarter-finals in 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2022, persevering with Ghana’s status as certainly one of Africa’s strongest groups at youth degree.

On the 2026 FIFA U17 Ladies’s World Cup in Morocco, Ghana has been drawn into Group C alongside Canada, Brazil and Norway.

After a difficult qualification journey, together with convincing wins over Togo (8-0 mixture) and Liberia (8-0 mixture) earlier than overcoming Senegal, the Black Maidens will now flip their consideration to getting ready for one more world marketing campaign as they purpose to make historical past as soon as once more. The FIFA U17 Ladies’s World Cup Morocco 2026 is from October 17 to November 7, 2026.