Black Stars won just one game at AFCON; received winning bonuses, per diems of over $1m - Report

The Minister for Youth and Sports, Hon. Isaac Asiamah was in parliament on Wednesday 24th July, 2019 to brief Parliament on exactly what transpired at the 2019 African Cup of Nations in Egypt.

Among the many things he touched on included the performance of the team coupled with the Ministry's demand from the Normalization Committee a comprehensive report from the technical team.

There was also a breakdown of the amount of monies paid out to the various parties who enplaned to the tournament in Egypt.

Apparently, the Black Stars of Ghana were paid a wining bonus of nearly $1 million for winning one of the four matches they played at the AFCON.

Per the breakdown espoused by the Sports Minister in Parliament, Per diem for players alone stood at $187,050 while those for technical team was $129,600, that of additional technical staff amounted to $90,750.

Winning bonus alone for the players stood at $965,405 while that of the technical staff amounted to $347,027 with the additional technical staff pocketing $177,000.

The sum total of the players per diem and winning bonuses alone set the nation back at $1,152,455.

Ghana played four matches throughout the competition, at the group stage, the Black Star drew with Benin 2-2 in the opening game, drew 1-1 with Cameroon before winning their only game of the competition by beating Guinea Bissau 2 nil and pocketed nearly $1 million dollars for winning just a game.

Winning bonuses of the Black Stars has become a contentious issue with the issue reaching its nadir at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil when players held the nation to a ransom because they were owed appearance fees.

Money had to be emplaned on a chartered flight from Ghana to Brazil with players seen kissing stash of dollar notes causing public uproar and dissatisfaction for the team even up till this day.