Carlos Queiroz has left his role as Ghana head coach with the Black Stars facing another battle to restore their continental standing.
The Ghana Football Association and Queiroz mutually agreed to terminate his contract on Thursday, 2 days after a damaging 4-2 home defeat to The Gambia.
The result left the four-time African champions without a point after their opening 2 matches of the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
Queiroz’s departure comes less than a month after the GFA handed him a new mandate following Ghana’s 2026 World Cup campaign.
The 73-year-old initially took charge in April on a four-month contract, replacing Otto Addo shortly before the World Cup.
Ghana collected 4 points from their World Cup group, beating Panama, drawing with England and losing to Croatia.
They progressed to the Round of 32, their first World Cup knockout appearance since 2010, before Colombia eliminated them 1-0.
Queiroz initially left after the tournament before returning in September to lead Ghana into the 2027 AFCON qualification campaign.
His overall Ghana record ends at 7 matches, with 1 victory, 2 draws and 4 defeats.
However, his second spell unravelled almost immediately as Ghana suffered consecutive defeats in their opening 2027 AFCON qualifiers.
Côte d’Ivoire defeated Ghana 2-0 in Bouaké before The Gambia produced an extraordinary comeback to win 4-2 in Accra.
Ghana led The Gambia 2-0 through Ernest Nuamah and Felix Afena-Gyan before conceding 4 unanswered goals.
Those results leave Ghana bottom of Group C on 0 points, while The Gambia have collected 6 from their opening 2 matches.
Another AFCON crisis
The poor start carries greater significance because Ghana have not reached the knockout stages of AFCON since the 2019 tournament.
At Cameroon 2021, Ghana collected just 1 point and finished bottom after failing to win any of their 3 matches.
Their campaign ended with a remarkable 3-2 defeat against tournament debutants Comoros, confirming their first group-stage elimination since 2006.
There was little improvement at the 2023 edition in Côte d’Ivoire.
Ghana lost 2-1 against Cape Verde before drawing 2-2 with Egypt and surrendering a 2-goal lead against Mozambique.
That 2-2 draw left Ghana with 2 points and confirmed a second successive AFCON group-stage elimination.
Things deteriorated further during qualification for the 2025 tournament in Morocco.
Ghana failed to qualify for AFCON for the first time in 20 years after going through their qualifying campaign without victory.
Their elimination was confirmed following a 1-1 draw with Angola, which left them with just 3 points after 5 matches.
Ghana eventually finished a qualifying campaign containing Angola, Sudan and Niger without securing the required ticket to Morocco.
What is at stake
That history places enormous pressure on whoever succeeds Queiroz.
Ghana have won AFCON 4 times, but their last continental title came in 1982.
They must now recover quickly to avoid missing consecutive AFCON tournaments for the first time in their history.
The Black Stars still have 4 qualifying matches remaining against Somalia, Côte d’Ivoire and The Gambia in Group C.
The next window comes in November before the qualifying campaign concludes with the final 2 matchdays in March 2027.
With 0 points from 6 available, Ghana’s next appointment will inherit more than Queiroz’s unfinished qualification campaign.
The new coach must arrest a continental decline that has produced 2 consecutive group-stage exits, followed by failure to qualify altogether.
For one of African football’s traditional powers, qualification for AFCON 2027 has already become a fight to avoid another historic setback.