Black Stars players received more than the amount declared by the Minister for Youth and Sports Isaac Asiamah when he appeared before the house of Parliament last week Wednesday to announce Ghana’s expenditure in the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).
Kwabena Owusu, a debutant of the Black Stars at AFCON 2019 has disclosed that each Black Stars player received $20,000 appearance fees for the just-ended continent’s showpiece in addition to the winning bonus and per-diem.
Speaking on GHone TV Kwabena Owusu said the story is not true and that they rather took something lower than that.
“We did not get $80,000 as appearance fee, our appearance fee was $20,000 — Kwabena Owusu stated.
This has confirmed speculations by a section of the media that the playing body of the Black Stars was paid appearance fees for their participation in the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations
Minister for Youth and Sports Isaac Asiamah announced last week on the floor of Parliament that government spent a total of $924, 168.00 on per-diem and $965, 405 on winning bonus on the Black Stars which is a total of $1,889,573.
When shared the $1,889,573 among the 23 players who represented Ghana in the 2019 AFCON, then it implies each player received $82,155.
The breakdown of the $82,155 is $40,181 on per-diem and 41,974 on winning bonus.
The revelation by Kwabena Owusu indicates that each Black Stars player received a financial reward of over $100,000 for winning just a game at AFCO 2019.
It is also understood that each player was paid $6,000 for the two pre-AFCON preparatory friendlies the Black Stars played against Namibia and South Africa which ended in a defeat and a draw respectively.
In the AFCON, Ghana drew two all against Benin in their opening Group F game, before they settled for a goalless draw against Cameroon and they completed a 2-0 win over Guinea Bissau.
The win sent them top of Group F of the 2019 Africa Cup of nations, with five points.
The Black Stars were drawn against Tunisia who had drawn all their group games heading into the tie against Ghana.
The Carthage of Tunisia who had lost their last six games in the AFCON against the Black Stars triumphed this time around, winning 5-4 on penalties following a 1-1 draw in 120 minutes of football.
This is Ghana’s worst performance in 13 years.
