President John Dramani Mahama
President John Dramani Mahama has appealed to Ghanaian supporters planning to travel to North America for the 2026 FIFA World Cup to respect immigration regulations and return home after the tournament.
He warned that irresponsible travel conduct could jeopardise the country’s renewed visa privileges.
Delivering the State of the Nation Address in Parliament on Friday, February 27, the president expressed concern over past incidents where some citizens attending international sporting events failed to return upon the expiration of their visas.
“Supporters and other people interested in going to support the team would have to submit visa requests to the American Embassy.”
“We are being told that we must ensure that supporters who go [to the tournament] return on the visas. It has taken a lot of work to restore Ghana’s five-year non-immigrant visas and take us off the ban list.”
“I hope the World Cup does not see thousands of Ghanaians travel to America, refuse to return, and push us back onto the travel ban list,” he said.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup, jointly hosted by United States, Canada and Mexico, is anticipated to attract thousands of Ghanaian supporters eager to back the national team on football’s biggest stage.
Ghana’s preparations are already underway, with the Black Stars scheduled to use Bryant University as their base camp during the competition, where they are set to face Panama, England and Croatia in the group phase.
