Fifa has revealed it was ready to pay Ghana’s players their World Cup bonuses directly and deduct it from the Ghana Football Association’s prize money.
After Ghana’s players boycotted training in protest at not receiving their money, the country’s government flew $3m (£1.8m) in cash to Brazil.
Fifa secretary general Jerome Valcke described the situation as sad.
“The players have the right to receive their money but it would be much easier to do this by bank transfer,” he said.
“The fact that the money came in cash is also sad because I was ready to sign a letter, as long as I had a copy of the agreement between the national association and the players, that the money would be paid by Fifa by bank transfer into their personal accounts.
“Fifa would have made sure to deduct the players’ money from the prize money paid to the national association.”
While Ghana have now gone home from Brazil, having been eliminated from the tournament at the group stage, another bonus row is ongoing involving Nigeria.
The Super Eagles, who are due to meet France in the last 16 on Monday, refused to train on Thursday over fears they would not receive their bonus payments from the Nigerian Football Federation, the BBC understands.
It prompted Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan to speak to senior players on Friday to assure them that the money will be paid.
There was a similar issue with Cameroon, whose players refused to board their plane to South America because of a row over appearance fees. They arrived for the World Cup a day later than scheduled.
The issue is not a new one – Togo went on strike over bonus money at the 2006 tournament in Germany and Fifa was forced to intervene.
And Valcke says that something needs to be done.
“Future World Cups will ask the national associations to provide us with their agreements with their players to make sure that this kind of episode does not happen again,” he said.
Ends
Courtesy of BBC
THIS IS A SHAME FOR AFRICAN FOOTBALL.BUT THE BIGGER SHAME IS FIFA CANNOT MAKE FOOTBALL CURRUPT FREE,YOU WATCH FOOTBALL YOU BECOME ANGRY BECAUSE HOW THE REFEREE CONDUCT THE GAMES WITH PARTIALITY AND TOO MANY STUPID MISTAKES.BUT THE CAMERAS ARE THERE WHY NOT USED CAMERA AND REVERSE THOSE MALICIOUS DECISION WITHIN SECONDS,BECAUSE IS VERY DISHEARTENING AND PAINFUL TO SEE LAZINESS IN REFEREEING OF INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL COMPETITION EVEN IF ITS NATIONAL WITH FAN HEART BROKEN BECAUSE OF A PARTIAL REFEREE OR A LAZY FOOTBALL OFFICIAL.BURN THAT!
It is disgraceful for (Black) Africa (I’ve never heard this sort from the North Africans) that once again, a tournament that should be talked about because of the beautiful game of football, is dominated by embarrassing player bonus issues that should never have happened or come out into the public domain. …
It is easy to blame FIFA (and rightly so because it governs the game), but this problem is like a “multi headed dragon”, each head as culpable and blameable as the other…
For the football officials of the concerned federations, in particular, and all National Federations in general, it is an emphatic statement from players and an indictment that they ( officials) lack the trust of the people they serve…A mistrust that has grown overtime due to the experience of these players and those before them, where monies meant for players have been pocketed by greedy, corrupt and inefficient officials…Greed, corruption and inefficiency must be cut out in football management in (Black) Africa if these situations are to be avoided…
For the players, no one can argue against their right to the entitlements that is due to them, but their attitudes and conducts, when on international duties, is disgraceful, stinks badly and is symptomatic of the same greed that is destroying the name of the game in.the continent. ..
What else can be said about these players, most of.whom (if not all), ply their trades in lucrative leagues in Europe/Middle East/US, etc, earn fantastic wages and are extremely rich (some are even multimillionaires) whilst the countries they represent are either bankrupt or on the verge of it and rely on handouts to “survive”..
What type of loyalty to your country is shown,when you squeeze out huge sums of.money ( which you don’t need) from your National Treasury,in order to add a few super cars to your already expensive collection..?
These people should be ashamed of themselves…