Ghana players must pay for pitch maintenance - NSA boss

The Director General of the National Sports Authority (NSA), Joe Kpenge, wants the Black Stars to consider making contributions for the maintenance of the pitches at the national stadia.

Kpenge's calls come at the time players and coaches of the senior national team keep on complaining about the state of the pitches in Accra and Tamale during AFCON and World Cup qualifiers.

This has resulted in the injuries of some key players with the recent ones being Jordan Ayew and Afriyie Acquah during last Friday’s 0-0 draw with Uganda in Tamale.

But, the financially constrained NSA feels the players must sacrifice a portion of their winning bonuses to maintain the turf and reduce reoccurring injuries.

“If during Tamale match some players bought tickets for their fan club members to come to the stadium, then they [Black Stars] can also say instead of giving us $8000 as winning bonus give us $5000 and the difference will be used for the repairs of the pitches”, he told Starr Sports.

"The whole country will surely appreciate this gesture and both the Accra, Tamale could be worked on. This will be a fantastic idea”, he added.

The next Ghana game will be against Congo Brazzaville next year August.