Black Stars miss out on inaugural FIFA Series

Ghana’s Black Stars have been excluded from the list of African teams chosen by FIFA for the inaugural FIFA Series international friendlies.

On Monday, FIFA announced its decision to trial the FIFA Series; a set of FIFA-backed international friendlies, in the next international window in March 2024.

In a statement on Monday, FIFA said four national teams selected from each confederation will converge in one country for the inaugural FIFA Series next month.

Although FIFA allocated six slots to African countries for the inaugural edition, Ghana’s Black Stars were somehow overlooked for the ‘‘tournament’’.

Algeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea and Central African Republic are the African countries selected for the inaugural edition.

Ghana were not the only big-name absentee for the inaugural event as Africa’s number one-ranked team, Senegal, AFCON 2023 winners, Cote d’Ivoire, and finalists Nigeria were all conspicuously missing.

FIFA says the initiative will ‘‘will provide member associations with a more regular opportunity to face national teams from other continents, which will serve to unlock technical development opportunities previously unavailable to many of them.’’

‘‘The FIFA Series will also provide the participating member associations with their own additional commercial opportunities and exposure.’’

The pilot Series will run from 18 to 26 March 2024.