Owusu Ansah: Ghana always love challenges

A goal and a player down, Ghana desperately needed a response against Uganda in order to seal their progress to the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Poland 2026™. Trailing 1-0 in Kampala, the Black Princesses had to avoid defeat to progress to the global finals after taking a 2-1 lead in the African play-off opening leg, but with just 12 minutes left on the clock, the pressure was mounting. Linda Owusu Ansah was ready to meet the moment, however. The Ghana captain kept her cool to score a decisive free-kick from near the corner flag, with her superbly-struck effort curling into the far top corner to send her country into the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup™ for the eighth edition in a row. Ghana have since been drawn against Ecuador, France and Korea Republic in Group C. Owusu Ansah, for her part, has been preparing for the global finals with a move to Northern Super League club AFC Toronto, followed by gaining valuable experience at the Women's African Cup of Nations in Morocco as a squad player. Ahead of Poland 2026, the 20-year-old attacking midfielder spoke to FIFA about Ghana's "challenging" group, the quest to reach the knockout rounds for the first time and her wider football ambitions. Poland 2026: Group C in focus FIFA: What excites you most about taking part in the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup? Linda Owusu Ansah: What excites me most about taking part in the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup is the fact that I would be able to represent my country on the world stage as I have always dreamed of. The various matches we played during the qualifiers all became tough at some point and it made the qualification to the World Cup a worthy one. How would you assess your group stage opponents - Ecuador, France and Korea Republic? ⁠⁠I won't lie; we are in a very tough group. France, Korea Republic and Ecuador are all great football nations but we will try our best to make it out of the group stages. We know it will be a huge challenge for us but we are Ghana and we always love challenges. In what ways does taking part in the Women's Africa Cup of Nations help your preparations? ⁠⁠I feel like taking part of the WAFCON will help in my World Cup preparation in the sense that I will be able to train and play with very experienced players and learn a lot from them, so coming into the U-20 World Cup, I will be coming with a little bit of experience How great is the motivation to reach the knockout stages of the U-20 Women's World Cup for the first time? We have high hopes we can reach the knockout stage this time round because I saw the resilience we showed during the qualifiers and how together we play as a team. I feel if we can continue with the same spirit, we can go far in the World Cup. How would you describe your style of playing? I would describe my style of playing as a more direct midfielder. I love to play forward a lot, create chances and also score goals. I also believe to be a clutch player. What are your career ambitions in football? I want to win African Women's Footballer of the Year, trophies with my country and various clubs, and also maybe [European Player of the Year] one day.