Ghana will be without a number a of its top players today October 12, 2015, when it hosts Ivory Coast at the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi in an African Nation Championship qualifier.

Andre Ayew and Asamoah Gyan of Ghana, and Ivory Coast pair Yaya Toure and Wilfried Bony are not going to be in action.

The fixture is a FIFA-recognised full international, with caps awarded and the result counting toward the November world rankings.

They are ineligible because the match is a final-round qualifier for the African Nations Championship, which is restricted to footballers based in their country of birth.

The countries meet again next weekend in Abidjan and the overall winners will secure a place at the 16-nation tournament next January and February in Rwanda.

This means that every African Nations Championship qualifying competition begins with teams full of footballers either barely known or completely unknown outside their country.