DANCING QUEEN – Ghana and Forest star Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah speaks

Nottingham Forest and Ghana forward Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah has had a year to remember, from securing promotion to the WSL to making her Ghana debut and getting the bronze at WAFCON.

Boye-Hlorkah spoke exclusively to Tom Maher ahead of the Black Queens’ upcoming encounter with the Lionesses.

On a beautiful early summer evening in Birkane, Morocco, Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah stood over a spot kick for her national team. Boye-Hlorkah’s Ghana side were facing Algeria in the quarter final of the Women’s African Cup of Nations, and the match had gone all the way to a penalty shoot-out.

The Black Queens had not been to the semi-finals of the competition in almost a decade, and the continental giants had failed to even qualify for the previous edition in 2022.

With Algeria’s Inès Belloumou seeing her penalty saved by Cynthia Konlan, the pressure was on for Boye-Hlorkah, star of Ghana’s tournament to that point, to take advantage.

The tension was palpable as Boye-Hlorkah stepped up. The outcome? Goal. Upon seeing the ball hit the net, Boye-Hlorkah instinctively broke into dance in delight.

On a decidedly less beautiful day in in November with early winter closing in on Nottingham, Boye-Hlorkah reminisces about her initiation with Ghana earlier this year,

“[When you join a new team] In England, you have your singing initiation. In Ghana, you’re dancing [and] with a lot of talented dancers who’ve been brought up with the feeling of the rhythm of the beat and stuff, so it was a nerve-wracking moment” she explained.

“But it was a fun experience with all the girls. They didn’t know I could dance… so yeah I pulled a couple of moves out” Boye-Hlorkah chimes with a grin, exuding an aura of playful confidence.

Joining up with the Black Queens Before April this year Boye-Hlorkah had not featured for Ghana, but since her debut she has become an instrumental mainstay. She would help Ghana to third place at WAFCON 2024, contributing a goal and an assist along the way. Far more than the stats show, she had a huge influence on Ghana’s style of play and their ability to dictate it.

That influence was recently recognised as the attacker was named Sports Writer’s Association of Ghana’s Foreign Based Women’s Player of the Year (above, right), a prestigious honour few are awarded, never mind within their first year in the national team set-up.

“I’m truly grateful. I really am” Boye-Hlorkah says when asked about the award.

“To even be given the platform to play for Ghana and then to go on and play my first tournament in my first couple of months, and then to be able to win this award.

“It’s been a surreal year, but I’m grateful for the support and the love that I feel from all the Ghanaians out there.”

While perhaps overlooked initially, Ghana became the swift favourites of neutrals watching on at WAFCON 2024. There was particular fondness in the UK towards the Black Queens in part due to Boye-Hlorkah’s involvement.

“It was amazing, like, to be at my first senior tournament, to then being just engaging in the culture and being able to bond over such an historic thing that we could create together” she says.

“Then to be able to come away with a bronze medal that Ghana hasn’t done for a while, for, I think eight years or so that they haven’t had silverware. So the fact that I can come in and play for my country and help bring some medals, and just be involved. it’s been amazing, it really has.”

The Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah Derby

Both branches of Boye-Hlorkah’s heritage meet in Southampton on Tuesday December 3rd when Ghana take on the Lionesses in a friendly.

“It’s a surreal feeling” Boye-Hlorkah says when asked about the match. “Even when I first went to play for Ghana, I didn’t think of the two [facing each other]. [So when they] came up to me and said: We’re gonna play England in December. I was like,” her face changed to an agog expression before she dumbfoundedly described her response at the time, “what…!?”

“Only in that moment, [that] was when I thought, oh yeah, I can play against England!” Boye-Hlorkah laughs.

“So yeah, it’s an amazing feeling to be able to collide the two nations where I’m from. I’m born in England, but I’m half Ghanaian, so to be able to do that is special. And it’ll be a special moment for me and for my family, for my friends and everyone who supports me and knows like the journey and stuff. It’ll be a special night, I’m sure.”

And are there any Lionesses that Boye-Hlorkah is particularly looking forward to facing?

“All of them, to be honest” she admits in her almost-musical, scouse cadence. “I’ve got a lot of friends who play in the Lionesses team, and players I have played with, and we’ve got good bonds.

“So I’m looking forward to playing with a lot of them, like Chloe [Kelly], Chloe’s my friend, Taylor Hinds, Lauren James, Hannah Hampton, Alex Greenwood, there’s a lot of players I can reel off that I have a good relationship with. [It’ll] be special for me to be able to share that moment with girls that I grew up playing against and playing with.”

As for her own teammates, who should people be looking out for who may not have seen too much of Ghana before?

“Ghana’s got a lot of talent” Boye-Hlorkah declares with pride. “I’m excited. I think that’s one of the most exciting things I’ve got going against England. It’s personally amazing for me, but to be able to watch the [Ghanaian] girls go out and showcase who they are and their talents.

“That’s from the captain, Porsche [Portia Boakye], she’s a warrior and like, she’s strong, she’s fast, [she puts her] body on the line. And then you’ve got Princess Marfo, she’s one of the most attractive young players, she’ll turn up on the day…

“There’s a lot, like the midfielders, the right-back Comfort [Yeboah]. I’m excited. I’m excited to see a lot of the players turn up and that will be special for me to know that they’re showcasing their talents.

“What I think with African football, it’s kind of in the shadows a little bit, so for them to have that platform to go and showcase who they are, it’ll be a beautiful moment for me to watch as well.”

And how about the possibility of facing England at the World Cup in Brazil?

“Like [that’s] the WAFCON’s [main] motivating point for us, the World Cup qualification, to be able to take [Ghana] on a world stage in Brazil, where football is football, it’s attractive, that in itself is the dream.

“So to be able to play against England in a fixture in [the World Cup], if that could be possible that would top everything. But right now to be able to even play a friendly game, a warm-up game, to prepare us both for our international avenues. It’s amazing to be able to play against England with the Ghana badge on.”

But would Boye-Hlorkah take the chance to show her Ghana team-mates the night life in Liverpool?

“It’d be crazy, wouldn’t it? They would [love it]” she replies with a laugh. “You never know! I mean, if we have a good game [against England in Southampton], maybe we can bring the dance moves on the pitch after the game.”

A Liverpudlian in Nottingham

One of the more eyebrow-raising moments of the summer transfer window involved Boye-Hlorkah. Player of the match in London City Lionesses’ crucial, final match of the season, a draw that secured promotion to the WSL, the forward signed for newly-promoted WSL2 side Nottingham Forest.

The Ghanian taliswoman talks me through how she has been settling into life in the Midlands, and what it was that motivated her to make the switch, “I think first off being in Nottingham, it’s nice” Boye-Hlorkah replies. “It’s not so far down as London. It’s not far away from Liverpool, it’s an hour 45-minute drive, so that’s a nice thing to be in the Midlands.

“But what motivated me to come to the team, it was just the ambition of being able to get promoted again. That had just been amazing moment for me, and to do it twice..

“But also the manager [Carly Davies, above, centre], the belief she has in me, the belief in my ability and my talent. She showed me her support ever since she found out that I’d be leaving London City.

“It [the deal] went on for quite a while, coming to Nottingham, but we got it done. She showed me the belief. The girls [also], she brought me into a good team, [it’s] a good setup [with] a lot of ambition.

“The coaches are driven. We have one target in mind, and that’s to win every single game and see where we end up at the end of the season, play our football and build our identity. So teams, when they play us, they know they have to fear us a little bit.

“It’s been good to settle in and just to continue the growth, obviously the team got promoted last season, now it’s like we want to be at the top end of the of the table, like winning is the main mentality that we’ve got. It’s a good journey. It’s a good project that we’re building.”

Forest: promotion hopefuls

Forest have had their share of tests this season, that included Subway Women’s League Cup ties against top-flight opposition. One such opponent was Boye-Hlorkah’s former club, Everton, “I’ve been blessed, and I’m grateful for the opportunities I’ve had this season to be able to play against another one of my former clubs” Boye-Hlorkah earnestly states.

“I was born and raised playing for Everton for 16 years, so to go and play them at Goodison was an amazing moment again.

“It’s a very competitive league [WSL2], so that makes it exciting. It’s hard. We know it’s not going to be easy.”

This term Nottingham Forest may benefit from the fact there are now two automatic promotion spots as well as a relegation/promotion play-off with a side from the top flight. Of course, Boye-Hlorkah is not the only member of the team looking to secure back-to-back promotions to the WSL. Georgia Brougham was promoted with London City Lionesses last season too.

“I think it’s something [experience of promotion] that is needed in the team, like when results aren’t going your way. And you know that, it could be a nil-nil draw, like we just had, but just to be able to find the way to win is something that you need to do in order to get anywhere in this league. You need to find a way to win, whether it’s ugly, whether it’s pretty, as long as the game’s won.

“That’s the only way you can get out of the league. But I think, yeah, we wanna try and put them qualities on the other girls and also learning off the other girls as well.

“They’ve obviously just got promoted as well [from the National League]. And a lot of other teammates have come from different WSL sides or sides that were still pushing for that promotion.

“So it’s a good group, and I think we’re all chipping in. Hopefully we can keep on the performance and then get the results with that killer touch on, and we can see where we end up.”

Since joining Forest who has helped Boye-Hlorkah settle into life in Nottingham, in the squad?

“To be honest, like all the girls, they’re really good girls to help [you] settle in. And goalkeeper Bats [Emily Batty], has been a good, standout player, and also key [is] the other goalkeeper [Georgie Ferguson], they’re really, strong, competitive. I feel sorry for goalkeepers, because only one of them can be played!”

After I express surprise at Boye-Hlorkah’s affinity for the goalkeeper’s union at Forest, she laughs, “I never thought I would either! Maybe it’s because it’s stuck in my head from yesterday, her performance on match day minus one, and on match day, both goalkeepers. They just came out and made me think, well, we need to give them their flowers.”

England vs Ghana kicks off at 7pm on Tuesday 3rd December at St Mary’s Stadium Southampton, live on ITV.

Photos: Ama Brobey Williams, Instagram