$5.4 Million in Appearance Fees and More: GFA’s Outrageous 2022 World Cup Budget Proposal Exposed

Time has a unique way of unveiling truths, often at a point where little can be done to rectify the situation. Just last week, the Ghana Football Association (GFA) was publicly defending its role in the Black Stars’ budgets and national team expenditures.

The GFA repeatedly claimed that its involvement in managing national team finances was limited to drafting budgets.

However, it appears that these claims were misleading, and just a few days later, the details of their proposed budget have come to light, revealing shocking figures.

Lawson Sports has intercepted a memo from the GFA’s General Secretary detailing their proposed budget for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Appearance Fees for 54 People

On November 14, 2022, Black Stars coach Otto Addo unveiled a squad of 26 players to represent Ghana at the World Cup. Along with the once-in-a-lifetime experience of playing on the global stage, each player was set to receive a hefty appearance fee of $100,000.

What Ghanaians weren’t told was that the GFA had also budgeted for 28 additional people to receive appearance fees, raising the total number of beneficiaries to 54. Yes, 54 individuals. This additional expenditure added up to a staggering $5.4 million.

Otto Addo’s “Personal Assistant”

Further details of the budget revealed that Otto Addo’s “Personal Assistant” was allocated a $20,000 honorarium—equivalent to what Ghana’s scouts would receive, and even as much as the head of delegation for the tournament.

Plane Tickets

Another questionable expense in the GFA’s budget was the cost of plane tickets for the Black Stars players traveling to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, ahead of the World Cup. The GFA had budgeted $7,000 per player for their flights.

However, this raises concerns, as the cost of each plane ticket would logically vary depending on the player’s departure location. For example, Andre Ayew, who was based in Qatar, would likely have a far cheaper flight than Daniel Afriyie Barnieh, who traveled from Ghana. How could the GFA justify the same airfare cost for both?

Purse Holder

Perhaps one of the most striking revelations in the budget was the honorarium for the purse holder, the chief financial officer of the delegation. The GFA allocated $10,000 for this role, which would essentially be performing duties the Finance Ministry already compensates someone for. This raises serious questions about the financial priorities and accountability within the GFA.

With these revelations, it is clear that there was a high level of collusion between the GFA, the Finance Ministry, and the Sports and Recreation Ministry, with vast sums of money allocated for questionable expenses. The details of this budget expose the level of financial mismanagement that has long been suspected, and the GFA’s defense of its actions now appears to be entirely at odds with the reality of its proposed spending.

The full budget is contained in the document below.