[ 2014-06-25 ]

Ghana Soccer Stars Await $3 Million Plane Before Key Match
June 25 (Bloomberg)
Ghana’s Black Stars soccer team were awaiting
the arrival of a plane with $3 million promised by
the government as compensation for playing in the
World Cup in Brazil, in the run-up to a match that
may send them home.

The team is focused on the game against Portugal
tomorrow, which they must win in order to have a
chance to qualify for the tournament’s knockout
stages, coach James Kwesi Appiah told reporters in
Brasilia. Appiah said he hoped the money issue
would be resolved within a few hours. Sannie
Daara, spokesman for the Ghana Football
Association, couldn’t immediately be reached to
confirm whether the plane had landed.

“This is a situation that had to be sorted out
before the competition,” Appiah said. “It’s
hard to have this situation and having to tell the
players each day that the money will come. But our
players are dedicated and they are focused only on
the game tomorrow against Portugal.”

More on the 2014 World Cup:

Opinion: $3 Million and a Black Eye for Ghana's
Black Stars
Swiss Pin World Cup Hopes on Immigrants After Stay
Out Vote
Suarez Gives Adidas World Cup Dilemma After
Apparent Biting
Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama contacted
the team and the arrangements for payment were
made afterward, the association said in a
statement on its website earlier today. The
players requested the money in cash because many
of them don’t have bank accounts in Ghana,
Appiah said.


Photographer: Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images
Asamoah Gyan of Ghana celebrates scoring his
team's second goal during the 2014 FIFA... Read
More
President Intervenes

Ghana’s team, which includes Sulley Muntari of
AC Milan and Kevin-Prince Boateng of FC Schalke,
has played two matches so far in the tournament,
losing 2-1 to the U.S. and drawing 2-2 with
Germany. They play their final first-round match
against Portugal tomorrow and need to win to have
any chance of progressing. The Black Stars were
eliminated in the quarter-finals by Uruguay in the
2010 tournament in South Africa.

“President Mahama waded into the matter after
agitation from the Black Stars players,” the
association said. “President Mahama personally
spoke to the players to assure them the money will
be paid by Wednesday afternoon.”

FIFA worked with the Ghanaian association and the
players to resolve the situation, Delia Fischer, a
spokeswoman, told reporters in Rio de Janeiro
today. Soccer’s governing body doesn’t like to
see this kind of problem, which has happened in
past tournaments, she said. She declined to say
more and referred questions to the Ghanaian team.

Fixing Allegation

The football association may find it hard to move
such a large amount of money into Brazil suddenly
if it doesn’t have the necessary clearance from
customs or import permits from a central bank,
said Ion De Vleeschauwer, chief dealer at Bidvest
Bank in Johannesburg. Bidvest is the biggest chain
of money changers in South Africa.


Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg
Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama contacted
the team and the arrangements for... Read More
“At the drop of a hat, to bring in $3 million in
cash, it might get you into a spot of bother,”
he said. “I don’t think the Brazilians will
confiscate it but they just may not allow it to be
released.”

The money would need to be declared to Brazil’s
tax authorities, though it wouldn’t be subject
to any duties on arrival in the country if
correctly reported, the tax collection agency said
in an e-mailed response to questions.

It’s not the first off-field problem to disrupt
Ghana’s World Cup. The football association has
asked police to investigate claims reported by the
London-based Daily Telegraph that the
association’s president, Kwesi Nyantakyi, had
agreed to fix future international exhibition
matches. The association has denied the report.

Back at home, Mahama has taken steps to ensure
that the broadcasts of Black Stars games aren’t
disrupted by regular blackouts. The government has
asked its aluminum smelter to cut power usage
during the World Cup and will buy additional
electricity from neighbor Ivory Coast to ensure
that Black Stars games can be shown live.

Source - Bloomberg

... go Back