Adjoa Bayor is among candidates for FIFA’s Women’s World Player of the Year

It is not just Ghana’s men making an impact on the football field. The women’s national side, dubbed the Black Queens, is pretty hot too.

The squad, dominated by players from leading Ghanaian women’s side Ghatel Ladies, is led by skipper Adjoa Bayor, the 2003 African Women’s Player of the Year.

Bayor has this year been named among the candidates for FIFA’s Women’s World Player of the Year Award; her compatriot, Michael Essien of Chelsea, is on the men’s list, with all the winner’s to be announced on 17 December.

Through the years, the Black Queens have proved their mettle against the best in Africa, reaching the final or semi final in the last five Africa Women’s Championships in a row, the female equivalent of the African Cup of Nations. The team will be looking to go one better next time after narrowly missing out to arch rivals Nigeria on each occasion.

The next opportunity for the Ghanaian women to get the better of their Nigerian counterparts will be in Equatorial Guinea in 2008.

The women’s national side also made an appearance at this year’s 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup in China. Although it did not progress beyond the group stages, it marked a major achievement in reaching the tournament finals and representing the African continent to the rest of the world.