$25m for all national football teams not just Black Stars - Minister

The Minister for Youth and Sports, Mustapha Ussif, has explained that the $25 million the Ministry is soliciting from the government and corporate Ghana will be used to cater for all national football teams for the next two years, and not just the Black Stars.

On Monday, President Akufo-Addo announced that the Black Stars would require $25 million for the two campaigns (winning the AFCON 2022 in Cameroun and reaching at least the semi-finals of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar). The President said the government was committed to providing $10 million of the amount.

However, Mr Ussif says the budget for the fundraising is meant for the expenses of all national teams for the next two years.

“The budget we have done is not only for Black Stars. It is for all our national team activities from now till 2022. We have 8 world cup qualifiers, the CHAN team will be playing qualifiers, the women’s team as well, and we have to participate at the AFCON, and if we qualify for the world cup, we will participate there as well,” he said in an interview with Citi TV.

“We have U-17, U-20, U-23 and the senior national teams and same for the women and all these teams have tournaments to play. We have done estimates for all our national teams and we think that we need about $25 million to cater for all their expenses".

Those leading the charge to raise the funds are the Minister of Youth and Sports, Mr Mustapha Yussif; the Deputy Minister-designate for Youth and Sports, Mr Evans Opoku Bobbie; the President of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), Mr Kurt Okraku, and a former Black Stars defender, Sammy Kufuor, representing the coach of the team.