Minister designate for Youth and Sports Hon. Isaac Asiamah has revealed that each player of the Black Stars earned $21,000 as bonuses after placing fourth in the 2017 edition of the Africa Cup of Nations which was staged in Gabon.
The in-coming sports minister disclosed the amount when he was answering questions from members of the vetting committee regarding the budget for the tournament.
During his interaction, he hinted that apart from the qualification bonus from the group stage and the quarter final win, the players did not get anything again.
“After qualifying from the group stage of the competition they were paid $15,000. The initial amount had been pegged at $30,000 but after negotiations we slashed the amount by half. Then at the Quarter Finals stage the players were each paid $6,000 instead of 12,000. Apart from these monies they were paid their usual per diems.”
Asked if he earned any per diems when he travelled to Gabon, Mr Asiamah said he did not.
“I went to Gabon but did not take any per diem. The total amount of budget for AFCON 2017 presented by the previous government was $4 million. The bonus structure alone amounted to some $3 million. However, with the 50% slash in the bonus structure a savings of $1.4m was made.”
The Black Stars placed fourth after losing 1:0 to Burkina Faso who won bronze.
