Abbey Pobee advises Sports Minister to draw Black Stars bonus structure before AFCON

Veteran football administrator, Abbey Pobee, has advised the Minister of Youth and Sports, Mustapha Ussif, to settle issues with regards to the Black Stars structure before the start of the Nations Cup next year. 

Ghana have been handed a tricky draw in Cameroon after drawing Morocco, Gabon and Comoros in Group C of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.

In the past, there has been agitations between the team and the management of the Black Stars over bonuses affecting the country at major tournaments.

But Abbey Pobee is calling for an early look into the amount to be paid as bonus to the players.

“The new Sports Minister is aware of issues with regards to bonuses, per diem and appearance fees. It ruined our team during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil which called for the establishment of an ad-hoc committee,” he told Hello FM.

“Unfortunately, none of the Sports Ministers has made use of the committee’s recommendations. I think the Minister should let us know if the players will be paid $5,000 or the old $10,000 as winning bonus, then again will they be given an appearance fee? He should let us know if he’ll make use of what is in the white paper.

“Due to the problems, the county has faced about the payment of bonuses I always urge every President to make Ghanaians know his plans about that to avert future occurrences.

“The President should have a Special Assistant for Sports. We all know about what happened when the $25 billion budget for AFCON and World Cup qualifiers was presented in a breakfast meeting among the stakeholders. That meeting was interestingly chaired by the President.

“The President should sit up on the bonus structure issues of the Black Stars.”