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President of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), Kurt Okraku has claimed that it was his ambition to see Ghana emerge as the ultimate winners of the 2022 World Cup following a rigorous qualification process.

Ghana finished top in a difficult group after securing a narrow win over South Africa before gaining an away goal advantage over fellow West Africans Nigeria at the end of a tough two-legged encounter which ended 1-1.

The Black Stars only overcame South Korea in their second encounter at the competition, losing 3-2 to Portugal and 2-0 to Uruguay in their first and third group matches, respectively.

Unfortunately, such results were insufficient to advance Ghana to the next round.

Speaking to delegates at the GFA 29th Ordinary Congress in Kumasi on Monday, July 10, at the Great Hall of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Okraku stated that he was disappointed to see the Black Stars exit at the group stage.

"When we qualified for the World Cup in Qatar, that was a big gain for Ghana and we earned the respect of the world," Mr Okraku said.

"As a leader of the football family, I would have loved that the Black Stars brought home the World Cup trophy. That was the vision but it did not happen but whatever happened, it is because we had the support of Ghanaians," he added.

The exit from the tournament meant Ghana were unable to go beyond the first round of the World Cup in their last two appearances having bowed out from the group stage in 2014 after losing to Portugal in their final group game following a loss and a draw to USA and Germany in the first two matches.

The Black Stars, however, were impressive in their first two World Cup appearances only getting knocked out by Brazil in the round of 16 in 2006 and going all the way to the quarter-finals of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa where they lost on penalties to Uruguay after blowing a great chance before the end of extra time.