Of the $8.16m budgeted for Ghana’s participation in the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, $5 million was spent, the Minister of Youth and Sports, Mustapha Ussif, has revealed.
“Out of the estimated budget of $8,166,200.00 for the tournament, our total expenditure for our group stage participation amounted to $5, 071, 840.36,” Ussif said on the floor of Parliament.
He explained that, the expenditure “covered appearance fees, per diems, flight arrangements, medicals, equipment, logistics and hospitality.
The reason for the surplus of over $3m, after our exit at the group stage, he said “is as a result of the Ministry’s prudent management of resources, as well as the Ministry’s decision to negotiate a qualification bonus to the next round, instead of paying winning bonus per match.”
“What this means is that, inspite of the Black Stars defeating South Korea 3:2 in our second group match, we did not pay winning bonuses for that win. However, we would have paid qualification bonus to the team had they been able to progress from the group to the next stage of the World Cup, regardless of the results of our group matches.”
The Black Stars spent 12 days in Qatar.
Ghana exited the World Cup after losing its opening game to Portugal and its final group game 2-0 to Uruguay on December 2, 2022.
