Payment of appearance fees problematic - Nyantakyi

Kwesi Nyantakyi, president of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) has described the payment of appearance fees to players of the Black Stars at major tournaments as problematic.

Ghana exited at the first round of the summer World Cup in Brazil following an appearance fee stand-off that saw the team refusing to train for one day.

The president in a post tournament report to the Executive Committee of the GFA and available to GNA Sports said that “The payment of appearance fees became problematic. The first reason was that up to Brazil, the players continued to reject the appearance fees approved by Government.

“In March in Montenegro, during negotiation with the players, they refused to accept the offer of $82,500 and insisted on the sum of $100,000.”

He said “Our observation is that the payment of the appearance fees and bonuses in cash pose many risks to the country, players and the FA. We must insist in future that payments to players are made through the banks.”

Nyantakyi who has supervised Ghana’s third successive appearance at the Mundial hinted that the players reneged on an initial agreement to receive their appearance fees electronically.

“There was a prior agreement to pay the appearance fees on credit/debit cards. The players reneged on that and demanded the payment in cash which had been the practice.”

The Black Stars’ campaign was rocked by issues of appearance fee after the Government and the players failed to reach an agreement before the tournament began.

Subsequently, the players after picking only a point in their first match loss (1-2) to the United States and drawing 2-2 with Germany refused to train and threatened not to travel to Brasilia for their third Group G match against Portugal, unless their appearance fees were paid.