Take $5,000 or quit the national team - government warns Black Stars players

Published on: 19 December 2014
Take $5,000 or quit the national team - government warns Black Stars players
Black Stars players will receive $5,000 for each match at the AFCON

Ghana's government says players must accept the $5,000 new bonus package or opt out of the national team when the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations squad is named.

Black Stars players who are not interested in the new reduced package must take the decision to leave the national team when coach Avram Grant names his squad.

The Black Stars’ earnings for previous tournaments has been reduced to by more than half ahead of next month’s tournament in Equatorial Guinea.

The players would have earned $10,000 for winning each match at the tournament but have now been told they must take half of the payment which is non-negotiable.

Ghana's deputy Sports Minister Vincent Oppong Asamoah says there will be no negotiations with the players and this is the final decision of government.

"It is sealed there is no option to it. It is not the players that have to determine how we will pay them," Ghana's deputy Sports Minister Vincent Oppong Asamoah said.

"They must show patriotism and win us the cup.

"If you want to play for Ghana you must be ready to take this or leave it."

The proposal would replace the tiered bonus package which paid incremental wining bonuses for each game won as the tournament progressed.

According to the new proposal, each player will receive a flat match appearance fee of $5,000 per game regardless of the outcome or which stage of the tournament they get to.

This would amount to $30,000 for six games played if they were to make it to the final.

The team would only get an extra $60,000 for actually winning the tournament.

This would replace the system where players took home winning bonuses of $10,000 at the group stage, $15,000 at the semi-finals, and more when they get to the final.

The reduction, many believe is in response to the uproar of Ghanaians following the debacle at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil where there was player agitation over delayed payments in promised bonuses.

Do you think the new payment system is good? Do you think the players will oppose it? Do you think this is even more beneficial? Do you think a player will have the guts to reject it? Make your views known in the box below:

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