Ghana’s Black Princesses, back from the FIFA Under 20 Women’s World Cup are waiting at their hotel in Accra to receive their qualification bonus die them.
The Princesses returned home last Thursday after being eliminated from the group stage despite winning two matches at the tournament in Canada. And rather than go home to their families, after being away for a long time, the team decided to wait for their qualification bonus which had been outstanding since they qualified for the tournament in Canada.
The players and officials are awaiting a promise made by Deputy Youth and Sports Minister, Vincent Oppong Asamoah, that the bonus will be paid Monday.
Information reaching Graphic Sports indicates that the Deputy Minister, upon visiting the team during their last group match in Moncton, promised that the money would be paid as soon as they arrived in Ghana as the cash, which had been transferred to the Ghana Mission in Toronto, could not be cashed in Moncton.
“The money will be sent back to Ghana and it takes three working days, so latest by Monday, you will receive the money,” the Deputy Minister was reported to have assured the team.
Base on this assurance, the team have decided to stay put at their hotel until they receive the money.
“Since we did not progress at the tournament, we have no other money than what we earned when we qualified for the Women’s World Cup as the bonuses have now been lumped as qualification bonus.
“Even that, we are being told that we will only get part as we played only two matches instead of six. That is unfair because it was not our fault that the teams pulled out of the competition, we prepared for the qualifiers so we must be compensated for it.
“We hope that the management committee and the the Ghana Football Association (GFA) will impress upon the ministry to pay the entire bonus,” a source close to the team appealed.
The Princesses were scheduled to play Guinea Bissau and Uganda during the qualifiers, but both opponents withdrew and the Ghanaian ladies thus played Equitorial Guinea over two legs to qualify for the Canada tournament.
