Black Queens head coach Mercy Tagoe-Quarcoo says her team will defend the upcoming WAFU Championship to be staged in Ivory Coast from May 8-18, 2019.

Ghana defeated Ivory Coast in the finals to win the maiden edition of the sub-regional tournament in 2018.

The team has moved to camp in Cape Coast to begin preparations for the tournament.

The coach in an interview indicated that the Ghana Football Association Technical team had helped her to scout for players for the national team.

She revealed that about 64 players were on her list after the scouting but the list had to be pruned down to 30.

According to former FIFA referee, she scouted for players in teams that played in the Southern Sector of the just ended Women’s Special Competition while other technical members scouted teams in the Northern sector.

Speaking to the media on the preparations of the team ahead of the tournament, she stated that the players called up will have to justify themselves before she names her final squad for the tournament.

“The women’s game has changed and now we need a lot of female players who can run and possess the ball very well. We have some young players in the team as well as some experienced players. I watched the finals of the Women’s Competition and I have invited two players to join the team”.

She led the Black Queens to glory in the maiden edition and was made the assistant coach of the team during the 2018 Africa Women’s Cup of Nations which was hosted in Ghana.

Tagoe-Quarcoo's provisional 30-man squad includes seven players who won the maiden tournament in Cote d'Ivoire.

The Black Queens will face Nigeria, Mali and Guinea in Group B while the host nation have Niger, Senegal and Benin.

Black Queens squad

Goalkeepers: Fafali Dumehasi (Police Ladies) Barikisu Isshaku (Northern Ladies), Abigial Tawiah-Mensah (Sea Lions), Azume Adams (Prisons Ladies)

Defenders: Janet Agyir (Hasaacas Ladies), Gladays Amfobea (LadyStrikers), Justice Tweneboa (Ampem Darkoa), Ellen Coleman (LadyStrikers) , Anatasia Akyaa (Sea Lions), Holalo Ativor (Kumasi Sports Academy), Linda Addai (Soccer Intellectuals), Rita Okyere (Prisons Ladies), Grace Ntiful (Hasaacas Ladies) and Veronica Darkwah (Ashtown Ladies)

Midfielders: Rabi Musa (Fabulous Ladies), Juliet Acheampong (Prisons), Grace Asantewaa(Ampem Darkoa), Diana Weige (Halifax Ladies), Blessing Agbomadzi (Sea Lions), Joyce Antwiwaa (Ashtown Ladies),

Attackers: Alice Kusi (Fabulous), Mavis Owusu (Ampem Darkoa), Mukarama Abdulai (Northern Ladies), El-Shadai Acheampong (Kumasi Sports Academy), Jane Ayieyam (Police Ladies), Ernestina Tetteh (Halifax), Elizabeth Owusua (Sea Lions), Grace Animah (Police Ladies), Faustina Kyeremeh (Immigration Ladies), Leticia Adjei (Samara Ladies).