Former world champions Japan will host Ghana in an international friendly on Sunday, April 1 at the Transcosmos Stadium in Nagasaki.
MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings, Inc. sponsors of the tournament will be presented as the MS&AD Cup 2018. The friendly will be the fourth year MS&AD has organised the annual Cup match, which will be televised live on TV Asahi.
Ghana and Japan will use the fixture to prepare for their respective continental tournaments.
Ghana as the hosts will need no qualifier to book place in the African Women’s Cup of Nations later this year.
The tournament, AWCON 2018, set for 17 November to 1 December, will double as the African qualifiers for the 2019 Women’s World Cup.
The 2011 World Champions have qualified for the Asian equivalent: the 2018 Asian Women’s Cup to be held in April.
The two nations last met, albeit at the junior level, in the 2016 U-17 Women’s World Cup where Japan cruised to a 5–0 win.
This marks Black Queen’s third successive friendly against the world’s top ten nations after their meeting with Germany and France in 2016 and 2017 respectively.
Black Queens lost both ties conceding a combined 19:0.
The Nadeshiko are ranked ninth in the world and second in Asia.
The Black Queens will be playing Nigeria’s Super Falcons later today in the semifinals of the WAFU Women’s Cup of Nations.
