By Ameenu Shardow
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Ex Ghana captain Stephen Appiah says his recent comments over the Black Starsââ¬â¢ appearance fees for the 2014 World Cup has been taken out of context.
Each Black Stars player will be paid an appearance fee of $75,000 â⬓ similar to what was paid four years ago in South Africa.
The amount was settled upon despite reports of higher demands being made by the players â⬓ considering colleagues in the Ivory Coast are being paid $19,000 more than what has been budgeted for the Black Stars.
But former captain Stephen Appiah says his recent comments sought to highlight the immense contribution being made by the Black Stars players to market Ghana at tournaments for which they should be appropriately rewarded rather than making exorbitant demands.
ââ¬ÅWhat I said was that the players have been marketing Ghana very well for which money cannot be put to pay them back,â⬠he told GHANAsoccernet.com.
ââ¬ÅHowever if they have negotiated and agreed to a figure to be paid as appearance fee for the World Cup then who am I to say they should demand more?
ââ¬ÅIssues of appearance fee or other financial rewards are a matter between players and officials and therefore when talks are held and agreements are reached, that settles the matter.ââ¬
The Ghana government has voted $9.8m for the Black Starsââ¬â¢ campaign at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
The approved amount however does not include costs of the pre-tournament preparations where the Black Stars are billed to play the Netherlands in an international friendly in Rotterdam and another friendly in the USA before travelling to Brazil for the tournament.
Ghana is drawn in Group G in their third successive appearance at the finals where they will be facing Portugal, Germany and the USA.