1995 Black Starlets to demonstrate over $5,000 World Cup winning prize

The 1995 Black Starlets squad have threatened to demonstrate if the state does not fulfill its promise to pay them $5,000 each for winning the U-17 World Cup in Ecuador.

The Ghana U-17 team were promised $5,000 each by the state, for winning the tournament,25-years-ago but did not receive their cash reward after lifting the prestigious trophy.

The Ghana U-17 squad coached by the late Sam Ardey, displayed fantastic football artistry to win the trophy, defeating Brazil 3-2 in the final. The team won all their games in the group stages and defeated Portugal and Oman on their journey to annexing the trophy.

The ‘Starlets 95’ side were named on the streets of the Accra Sports Stadium and were faithfully rewarded by then President, Flt. Jerry John Rawlings for putting Ghana on the map.

As 20th August beckons, the retired players who led the country to triumph at the U-17 World Cup have vowed to take the government on for relenting on its promise to them 25-years ago.

Awudu Issaka, a member of the ‘Starlets 95’ team revealed that the players are planning to go on a demonstration to demand their $5,000 cash prize. He revealed that most of the players outside Ghana are bent on returning to the country to help their colleagues earn what is due them.

“We the 95 team have a Whatsapp group and we are planning on going on a demonstration,” Awudu Issaka said on GTVSports+.

“We were promised by the state that each player will receive $5,000 for winning the cup but none of us has received anything from the state. In some countries like Nigeria, the players were given houses, others were also given cattle as rewards so we thought we were going to be given something bigger but we received nothing,” he added.

“It was only President Rawlings who gave us (old) GHC 50,000 as treasury bills after we presented the trophy to him but that one is his personal gift to us, what we are demanding is what the state promised us.”

The Black Starlets won the trophy under the era of former Sports Minister, E.T Mensah.