Ghana’s Black Stars will face Morocco in an international friendly on Sunday, October 4, 2026, as part of their preparations for the next phase of their international programme.
The fixture was confirmed by the Royal Moroccan Football Federation, which announced that the Atlas Lions will host Ghana at the Grand Stade de Tanger with the match scheduled for 7:00 PM local time.
For Ghana, the meeting will come after two crucial Africa Cup of Nations qualifying assignments against Côte d’Ivoire and The Gambia. The Black Stars are scheduled to travel to Bouaké to face Côte d’Ivoire on September 24 before hosting The Gambia in Accra three days later on September 27.
The Morocco friendly will therefore give Ghana an opportunity to test the squad against one of Africa’s strongest sides after the two competitive qualifiers.
It also provides another high-level fixture as the Black Stars continue to rebuild their international programme following their absence from the last Africa Cup of Nations.
Ghana’s recent AFCON record has been difficult by the standards the country has traditionally set at the continental tournament. The Black Stars have not progressed beyond the round of 16 since reaching the semi-finals in 2017, and exited from the group stage in the 2021 and 2023 tournaments while they missed the most recent edition altogether.
The October meeting will also revive a fixture that has not been kind to Ghana in recent years. The Black Stars have lost their last two meetings with Morocco, with both defeats coming by a single goal.
The first of those losses came in a friendly in Rabat in June 2021. Jawad El Yamiq scored in the 68th minute to give Morocco a 1-0 victory, with the Atlas Lions capitalising on a defensive error to settle the contest.
The second defeat came in the opening game of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, played in January 2022 in Cameroon. Sofiane Boufal scored in the 83rd minute to hand Morocco another 1-0 victory over the Black Stars.
Morocco Arrive With Competitive Tests
The upcoming encounter will have a different context, however, with Ghana using the game as preparation while Morocco have their own competitive commitments before the meeting.
Morocco will begin their September camp on Monday after coach Mohamed Ouahbi named 29 players for the upcoming international assignments. The squad will first face Gabon on September 25 at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat in the 2027 AFCON qualifiers.
Four days later, Morocco will travel to Bloemfontein, South Africa, to meet Lesotho at Toyota Stadium on September 29. That match will also form part of their qualification campaign for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations.
The Ghana game will then bring the September-October international period to a close for the Atlas Lions, with the Royal Moroccan Football Federation describing the fixture as part of the national team’s preparation for upcoming events.
For the Black Stars, the encounter could provide a useful measure of progress against a familiar opponent that has twice edged them by 1-0 in their last two meetings. Ghana will first have to negotiate the demanding qualifiers against Côte d’Ivoire and The Gambia before attention turns to Tanger.
With the two previous meetings decided by fine margins, the Tanger friendly could also offer Ghana the chance to alter the recent head-to-head narrative while continuing preparations for the challenges that lie beyond the AFCON qualifying campaign.
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