Former Ghana Football Association Vice President Fred Pappoe has shared his perspective on the Black Stars' failure to qualify for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), acknowledging the disappointment but noting that the outcome was not entirely unexpected.

The Black Stars endured a challenging qualification campaign, finishing at the bottom of Group F without a single victory.

Ghana recorded three losses and three draws across six matches, marking their first failure to qualify for AFCON in 20 years, with the last absence being in 2004.

“Everyone associated with football is not happy about what has gone on—that Ghana will not be part of the assembly of African footballing nations at AFCON 2025," Pappoe said.

"It’s very unfortunate and gives a lot of pain. My assessment is that it is an unfortunate situation and development.”

He attributed the setback to a decline in performance over recent tournaments, stating, “It was something clear for all of us to see that things were not going well with the team.

Our performances in the past two AFCON tournaments and the qualifiers have not been anything to be proud of. The signs and signals were clear on the wall.”

With the AFCON qualification dream over, the Black Stars will now turn their focus to the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, set to commence in March 2025.