'$25 million not just for Black Stars but all national teams' - Sports Minister clarifies

The sum of $25 million being sought by the Ministry of Youth and Sports as announced at a recent meeting with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is for all national football teams and not for the Black Stars alone.

The Ghana Football Association chief, Kurt Okraku, and other top officials of the GFA were present at the meeting where government announced a $10 million contribution tasking authorities to raise the remaining $15 million from corporate Ghana.

Reports had widely circulated that the amount is to be invested in the Black Stars' African Cup of Nations (AFCON) campaign in Cameroon and for their qualification towards the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

The move drew sharp criticism among sports journalists and other stakeholders who insist that throwing money at the Black Stars has proven not to achieve the intended results of ending Ghana's long AFCON trophy drought.

Minister for Youth and Sports, Mustapha Ussif, on Tuesday, clarified on Accra-based Citi TV that the total amount is to be used to run all national teams for the next two years and not just the Black Stars.

GhanaWeb monitored an interview the Minister had on the Face To Face program on Citi TV, where Hon. Ussif, who is also the Member of Parliament for Kubori-Yagaba, faulted the initial communication as inaccurate before making the clarification.

“The budget we have done is not only for Black Stars. It is for all our national team activities from now till 2022. We have 8 world cup qualifiers, the CHAN team will be playing qualifiers, the women’s team as well, and we have to participate at the AFCON, and if we qualify for the world cup, we will participate there as well,” he said.

“We have U-17, U-20, U-23 and the senior national teams and same for the women and all these teams have tournaments to play.

“We have done estimates for all our national teams and we think that we need about $25 million to cater for all their expenses," he added.

The Black Stars have already qualified for the AFCON 2022 tournament and will begin the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers in June this year.