The Vice President of Ghana Football Association has denied reports that his outfit was paid more than the $150,000 earlier stated by Russia for Tuesday’s friendly.
The Stars lost 1-0 in the game played in Moscow.
Afriyie also explained that the $5,000 payments made to players for friendlies are not new, as some fans have questioned why these amounts must be paid for non-competitive matches.
“We have been paying this $5000 as an appearance fee [for friendlies] since 2006. It has been consistent,” he told Asempa FM.
There was another thorny issue as well.
Before this game, Winfred Osei Kwaku, the vice chairman of the Black Stars management committee had told Asempa FM that both parties (Ghana and Russia) had agreed to a $150,000 payment for Ghana.
He had also added that the FA always incurs debt when such friendlies are played because they usually have to top up for other costs.
This claim drew criticism from the public especially because the same FA had said they could not finance or subsidize airfares for some Black Stars players when the Sports Ministry declined to do so before the AFCON qualifier against Rwanda.
“It is possible not to incur debt in friendly matches but it depends on the country you will be playing wit, because you will be in debt if you decide to play Argentina here in Ghana,” Afriyie said.
Local media also reported that the FA had received an extra amount $177,000, amounting to $327,000.
The FA vice president denies this. “I have heard of a lot of the agitations going but I will set the records straight regarding to the Russian friendly match,” he told Asempa Sports.
“Before the match against Russia, we had already received an offer from the USA national team asking us to play them on October 11. But we were waiting for a confirmation from FIFA, and then we had a report from FIFA saying the match had been cancelled.”
He went on: “Due to our fixtures (playing Rwanda on September 3 and Russia on September 6), as the FIFA rules clearly say, when you have a tournament coming up so we decided not to play Russia as well”.
Afriyie referred to the Fifa rules that say a country cannot play two friendlies on two continents before a qualifier.
“The Russian FA wrote back to us indicating that they can sanction the match for it to be played in Moscow. When we had the confirmation from FIFA and the Russian FA, our international relations officer, Mr. Alex Asante informed the minister and a copy of the confirmation letter was sent to the ministry.
The truth is, the contract was signed on officially on Monday September 5 and we also sent a copy of the contract to the ministry on that same Monday.”
“People are asking how much did the Russian paid us. My question is, have the FA ever brought a contract to the public domain? If we have been issuing out contract to the public, then you can question us but that has not been the norm.”
“The GFA was given $150.000 plus accommodation and ticketing but I don’t know anything about the extra amount of $177,000.
“And what my colleague Kwaku Osei said is the truth. We incur debt because we spend on the team going to into friendly but there is no doubt that the Russians paid for our flight but the truth is we incur debt any time we play friendly matches as Kweku Osei Palmer said.
“So what I am saying is, it is not a good practice to ask the FA to bring the documents out but personally if you ask me to bring it out, I will not have any problem with you but that has not been the norm and even up till now, the Russians have not send the money but they have promised us to pay it in two tranches,” he concluded.
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