The Minister of Youth and Sports, Hon. Mustapha Ussif has disclosed that Black Stars players had not received any winning bonuses despite beating South Korea at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
“Mr Speaker, the reason for the surplus of over $3m, after our exit at the group stage, is a result of the Ministry’s prudent management of resources, as well as the Ministry’s decision to negotiate a qualification bonus to the next round, instead of paying winning bonus per match,” he said at the Floor of Parliament.
The Black Stars of Ghana won the match after they conceded two goals from the Asian country and scored three goals to grab 3 points in Group H which marked their only win in the tournament.
However, the Ghanaian Senior Nationale team finished at the bottom of the group by missing a penalty and conceding two goals to 2010 rivals Uruguay in their last group match.
“What this means is that in spite of the Black Stars defeating South Korea 3:2 in our second group match, we did not pay winning bonuses for that win. However, we would have paid a qualification bonus to the team had they been able to progress from the group to the next stage of the World Cup, regardless of the results of our group matches.
“Mr Speaker, this measure we have adopted is aimed at motivating the team to go all out and progress from one stage of competitions to the other, and also ensure prudent management of resources.
“Even though we would have been very happy for the Black Stars to progress for us to pay the qualification bonus, this measure has also saved the nation some money, which will go back to our continuous sports development,” Hon. Mustapha disclosed.
