Yes, it's official. Ghana’s national team will no longer get the usual ‘fat bonuses’ at the Afcon.

But it ends up with the same take home pay if only they win the Afcon.

Unlike previous times when the team is marked a specific amount for wins during games and rewarded with a qualification bonus, the Black Stars will now be earning a fixed amount at every level of the Afcon no matter the result of the game they feature in.

As done in the old scheme and per the proposed budget by the Ghana FA for the 2015 Afcon, the team’s winning bonus for the group stages stood at $10,000 per win, $15,000 for the quarters, $20,000 for semis and $25,000 for a win at the finals.

That has apparently been reviewed after extensive talks between the football association and the sports ministry. It took 3 hours actually for a consensus to be made.

The players will now earn $5,000 bonus per game (no matter the outcome) from the start through to the finals, Ghana’s Sports Ministry initiated.

Each player as well stands to enjoy an extra $60,000 for winning the Afcon trophy – that is, $90,000 gained from the whole competition.

“This was a proposal that came from the ministry. We had a 3-hour meeting deliberating it and at the end, we all said we should give it a try. “We didn’t vary any figure but rather the mode of payment,” Ghana’s deputy sports minister Vincent Oppong Asamoah points out.

Same amount after all

From the above explanations regarding the two reward packages, each player will eventually pocket $90,000 for winning the Afcon.

“All the amounts proposed by the Ghana FA [for the Afcon] were approved. It is the mode of payment that we shuffled but we didn’t vary any figure,” he re-emphasized.

No short-changing

The second in command at Ghana’s sports ministry delves into the pros of the new package:

“Before, they would have earned $90,000 for six games but we thought it prudent that it would be cost effective to fix a flat rate of $5000 for all the six games ($30,000 up to the finals) and top up with the $60,000 balance if the team wins the trophy.”

“Financially, that is more prudent to government and for the whole nation. Previously, playing up to the semi-finals alone would have earned them $65,000 per player – which is over 70% of the entire prize money if they win the finals.”

“With that, there will be no motivation for them to play to win the cup because they would have gotten almost all the budgeted bonuses even before the finals,” Oppong Asamoah said.

Cup as motivation

“Now, everything has been consolidated into the payment for a win in the finals. We all aim that the Black Stars are going to take the cup so we budget based on the ultimate [trophy]."

"We approved the budget figures presented by the FA but we all agreed to vary the mode of payment. It wouldn’t be business as usual. We have slashed it down."

"They should just go for the ultimate and if they do, they will get the entire amount [$90,000] eventually. I think this will make them strive very hard to bring us the trophy that has eluded the country."

“Money shouldn’t be a motivating factor but if they are really looking for the money, it means they should work hard, get the ultimate and take the money. It is there for them,” the minister emphasized.

This new package the ministry says will be implemented to its fullest at the 2015 Afcon in Equatorial Guinea.

“It is sealed there is no option to it. It is not the players that have to determine how we will pay them. They must show patriotism, win us the cup and get the prize money [$90,000],” Vincent Oppong Asamoah concluded.

Ghana is in Group C of the Afcon alongside Senegal, Algeria and South Africa.