{"id":319155,"date":"2025-04-01T07:34:04","date_gmt":"2025-04-01T07:34:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2025\/04\/01\/asante-kotoko-players-must-make-black-stars-squad-for-2026-world-cup\/"},"modified":"2025-04-01T07:34:04","modified_gmt":"2025-04-01T07:34:04","slug":"asante-kotoko-players-must-make-black-stars-squad-for-2026-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2025\/04\/01\/asante-kotoko-players-must-make-black-stars-squad-for-2026-world-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"Asante Kotoko players must make Black Stars squad for 2026 World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"article-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.ghanaweb.com\/imagelib\/pics\/600\/60060881.295.jpg\" alt=\"Asante Kotoko's Communications Director, Samuel Sarfo Duku\" title=\"Asante Kotoko's Communications Director, Samuel Sarfo Duku\" width=\"295\" height=\"144\" \/> <span class=\"image_caption\"><span>Asante Kotoko&#8217;s Communications Director, Samuel Sarfo Duku<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"-webkit-user-select: none; -webkit-touch-callout: none; -moz-user-select: none; -ms-user-select: none; user-select: none;\">\n<p id=\"article-123\">Asante Kotoko&#8217;s Communications Director, Samuel Sarfo Duku, has asserted that Ghana\u2019s Black Stars cannot compete at the 2026 FIFA World Cup without players from the club.<\/p>\n<p>The Porcupine Warriors, currently leading the 2024\/25 Ghana Premier League, recently secured a spot in the FA Cup semifinals after a hard-fought 2-1 victory over lower-tier side True Democracy at the Baba Yara Stadium.<\/p>\n<p>With Ghana edging closer to World Cup qualification, Sarfo Duku believes Kotoko\u2019s players are deserving of a place in Otto Addo\u2019s squad for the tournament, which will be hosted in the USA, Canada, and Mexico next year.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There cannot be a Black Stars without an Asante Kotoko player for the 2026 World Cup,&#8221; he told Kumasi-based Akoma FM.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;All our players deserve a call-up, and they should be there,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n<p>Ghana\u2019s national team currently sits atop Group I with 15 points, following consecutive wins against Chad and Madagascar in the Matchday 5 and 6 qualifiers.<\/p>\n<p>The Black Stars will return to action in September for crucial clashes against Chad and Mali in Matchday 7 and 8.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Asante Kotoko&#8217;s Communications Director, Samuel Sarfo Duku Asante Kotoko&#8217;s Communications Director, Samuel Sarfo Duku, has asserted that Ghana\u2019s Black Stars cannot compete at the 2026 FIFA World Cup without players from the club. The Porcupine Warriors, currently leading the 2024\/25 Ghana Premier League, recently secured a spot in the FA Cup semifinals after a hard-fought [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":319156,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-319155","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Asante Kotoko players must make Black Stars squad for 2026 World Cup - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2025\/04\/01\/asante-kotoko-players-must-make-black-stars-squad-for-2026-world-cup\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Asante Kotoko players must make Black Stars squad for 2026 World Cup - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Asante Kotoko&#8217;s Communications Director, Samuel Sarfo Duku Asante Kotoko&#8217;s Communications Director, Samuel Sarfo Duku, has asserted that Ghana\u2019s Black Stars cannot compete at the 2026 FIFA World Cup without players from the club. The Porcupine Warriors, currently leading the 2024\/25 Ghana Premier League, recently secured a spot in the FA Cup semifinals after a hard-fought [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2025\/04\/01\/asante-kotoko-players-must-make-black-stars-squad-for-2026-world-cup\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-04-01T07:34:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2025\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/60060881.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"292\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ghana News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ghana News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/01\\\/asante-kotoko-players-must-make-black-stars-squad-for-2026-world-cup\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/01\\\/asante-kotoko-players-must-make-black-stars-squad-for-2026-world-cup\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ghana News\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2025\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/19f97c9b96bb4eec1ec652714cfea7e6\"},\"headline\":\"Asante Kotoko players must make Black Stars squad for 2026 World Cup\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-01T07:34:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/01\\\/asante-kotoko-players-must-make-black-stars-squad-for-2026-world-cup\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":193,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/01\\\/asante-kotoko-players-must-make-black-stars-squad-for-2026-world-cup\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2025\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/60060881.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Sports\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/01\\\/asante-kotoko-players-must-make-black-stars-squad-for-2026-world-cup\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/01\\\/asante-kotoko-players-must-make-black-stars-squad-for-2026-world-cup\\\/\",\"name\":\"Asante Kotoko players must make Black Stars squad for 2026 World Cup - 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