An embarrassing gaffe at the Sydney Football Stadium saw Ghana's national soccer team start Friday night's friendly with Australia without hearing their national anthem.

The incident could hardly have happened at a worse time for Football Federation Australia, with FIFA president Sepp Blatter due to arrive in Sydney on Friday night ahead of next week's FIFA Congress.

FFA chairman Frank Lowy is desperate to use the Congress as a way of showing the world Australia's suitability to host the 2018 World Cup.

Ghana's anthem was supposed to be played first but after an awkward delay Australia's national anthem began.

There was another slight delay after Australia had their turn and the players looked around confused.

The players from both teams were then urged to do the customary handshake before kick-off, drawing jeers from the crowd.

FFA officials were yet to confirm the reason for the mix-up.

In bizarre scenes, the Ghana anthem was played before the start of the second half, drawing a sarcastic applause from the crowd and bringing further attention to the blunder