Accra, Feb 27, GNA - Over 10 million Ghana cedis was realized as contributions from individuals, organizations and institutions before, during and after the participation of the Black Stars of Ghana at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany.
The suspicions and myth surrounding the financial details regarding Ghana's first ever appearance at the showpiece event in global football was finally broken on Wednesday, during the Twenty-Second sitting of the first meeting of Parliament in Accra.
Professor Dominic Fobih, Minister of Education, Science and Sports (MoESS) said in response to a question posed by Mr Haruna Iddrisu, Member of Parliament for Tamale South as to how much money was received and disbursed for the participation of the Black Starsat the 2006 World cup in Germany.
The Minister said a total of 10,514,802.41 Ghana Cedis consisting of contributions from six sources including FIFA - 5,403,041.87 Ghana Cedis, Gold Fields Ghana Limited - 456,820 Ghana Cedis, Government - 3,522,043.20 Ghana Cedis, Appearance fee from international friendly matches - 241,150 Ghana Cedis, external sponsors - 100,100 Ghana Cedis and local sponsors - 791,647.34 Ghana Cedis was realised Prof. Fobih explained that FIFA's contributions is made up of the prize money of 4,549,807.99 Ghana Cedis (equivalent to 4.9 million dollars) with the remainder being the initial 853,234.20 Ghana Cedis (937,620 dollars) for qualification to the World Cup.
He said that a refund of 2,275,000 Ghana Cedis (2.5 million dollars) of the prize money was transferred to the Ministry as part of the monies advanced by Government to the team.
Professor Fobih further said the Ghana Football Association (GFA) has spent 6,722,465.93 Ghana Cedis on the various national football teams and developmental projects towards the development of the sport. He said this is inclusive of all expenses incurred during the team's campaign at the World Cup - appearance fee (2,143,600 Ghana Cedis), bonuses (1,217,158.95 Ghana Cedis), per diem allowance (339,488.98), scouting (36,255.36 Ghana Cedis), Medicals (33,680.65 Ghana Cedis) among others.
From the deductions, the GFA allocated 538,720 Ghana Cedis to the National Olympic team, Black Meteors for their All Africa Games and unsuccessful Beijing 2008 campaigns; Black Satellites - 40,827.15 Ghana Cedis, Black Starlets - 384,641.93 Ghana Cedis, Black Princeses - 18,320.12 Ghana Cedis and Black Damsels - 1,683.50.
The GFA also spent 123,222.19 Ghana Cedis on accommodation and allowances for Black Stars head coach, Claude Le Roy and his assistants. Also included in the ministers report are developmental projects such as the acquisition of vehicles for all regional associations, renovations at the Ghanaman Soccer Centre of Excellence at Prampram, Two Nissan Patrols and two sets of generators all acquired by the GFA. Meanwhile, Prof. Fobih said an amount of 1,517,336.48 Ghana Cedis (1,667,402.73 dollars), which is the balance of money unutilized is currently lodged at the GFA's account.
