Brazil 2014: Players to be paid $75,000 appearance fee

Ghana will be paying $75,000 to each player as appearance fee at the 2014 World Cup, Sports Minister Elvis Afriyie Ankrah has confirmed.

The amount remains unchanged from what was paid to the Black Stars players at the last World Cup in South Africa where each member of the playing body was handed $75,000 in appearance fees.

The state has also decided to maintain the amount paid as winning bonuses for the last World Cup in the upcoming tournament in Brazil as part of the austerity measures of government.

Cabinet over the weekend approved about $9.8m budget for Ghana’s participation at the 2014 World Cup.

The approved figure falls far short of the about $20m budget reported to have been tabled by the Ghana FA and the Sports Ministry to the Presidency.

It was expected that the enhanced demands reportedly being made by the Black Stars players were included in the alleged $20m budget.

But the Sports Minster Elvis Afriyie Ankrah has revealed that the amount of $75,000 paid to the players as appearance fees as well as the amount paid as winning bonuses for the last World Cup would be maintained.

“Based on our discussion the government insists that we should maintain our bonuses and for the record, the 2010 figure was $75,000 and so we should maintain the 2010 figure because we are all going through challenges,” he told Accra-based Power FM.