Black Stars were not paid winning bonuses despite beating South Korea - Sports Minster

Sports Minster, Mustapha Ussif has disclosed that Black Stars players did not receive any winning bonuses despite beating South Korea at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

Ghana secured a 3-2 win over the Asian country after taking a 2-0 lead and pegged back at the start of the second half.

The West African country finished bottom of Group H with three points after losing to Portugal and Uruguay, having beaten South Korea in between.

"Mr Speaker, the reason for the surplus of over $3m, after our exit at the group stage, is as a result of the Ministry’s prudent management of resources, as well as the Ministry’s decision to negotiate a qualification bonus to the next round, instead of paying winning bonus per match," he said at the Floor of Parliament.

“What this means is that inspite of the Black Stars defeating South Korea 3:2 in our second group match, we did not pay winning bonuses for that win. However, we would have paid a qualification bonus to the team had they been able to progress from the group to the next stage of the World Cup, regardless of the results of our group matches.

“Mr. Speaker, this measure we have adopted is aimed at motivating the team to go all out and progress from one stage of competitions to the other, and also ensure prudent management of resources."

“Even though we would have been very happy for the Black Stars to progress for us to pay the qualification bonus, this measure has also saved the nation some money, which will go back to our continuous sports development,” he stated.