Black Stars Players Still Owed World Cup Qualification Bonuses

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Ghana’s Black Stars players are still owed bonuses six months after qualifying to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, GHANAsoccernet.com Headquarters understands.

Each of the players will pocket $10,000 for each of the qualification they participated in successfully qualifying Ghana to the global showpiece in the Middle East.

What it means is that with a total of 8 matches, the players that took part in all of the matches are expected to take home $80,000 as bonuses.

Mustapha Ussif has stressed that even though they pegged the bonuses to the qualification of the team to the World Cup, they will however pay them based on the number of matches each player participated in.

However, there has been no show from the Ministry – amid disquiet within the group, just two months before the World Cup gets underway.

But GHANAsoccernet.com Headquarters understands that the players are yet to be paid despite several assurances from the country’s Sports Minister, Mustapha Ussif.

The players are believed to be unhappy over the development as they demand for their cash before the team’s international friendly matches against Brazil and Nicaragua.

There appears to be uneasy calm within the group as demand for their qualification bonus begins to rise.

There are fears if the situation is not resolved, it could spiral into the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar and revisit the infamous bonus row that clouded the country’s participation at the World Cup in Brazil in 2014.

The players boycotted training in protest at not receiving their money – leading to the decision by the country’s government fly $3m (£1.8m) in cash to Brazil to avoid total collapse.

The Black Stars squad threatened to go on strike over the non-payment of bonuses agreed for the tournament before the personal intervention of former president John Dramani Mahama, with former coach Kwesi Appiah revealing that some of his players kept their $100,000 share in their backpacks in the dressing room while they were playing their Group G game against Portugal in Brasília.

The Black Stars qualified to the 2022 FIFA World Cup at the expense of eternal rivals Nigeria, winning on the away goal rule back in March.

The four-time African champions will battle old foes Portugal and Uruguay as well as South Korea in Group H.

By: Ghanasoccernet.com