Ghana demanded $125,000 before playing 2nd half against Chile

Footy-ghana.com can confirm that the leadership of the Ghana contingent that faced Chile in a recent friendly international demanded payment from the match organisers before allowing the Black Stars to honour the second half of the match.

It will be recalled that there was a delay of over 35 minutes during the half time break, during which the Chilean players returned to the pitch, waited in the rain for some time before returning to the dressing room, after which the Black Stars finally reported back to the pitch in Philadelphia.

According to Chilean newspaper EL Mercurio, the leadership of the Ghana contingent had heard that Chile had been advanced the match appearance fee of $125,000 and demanded the same amount before allowing the Ghana players to play the second half.

It was only when the match organisers, Moses Kanduri and FIFA agent Njoya Salim undertook to pay the money that Ghana head coach Goran Stevanovic directed the players to return to the pitch for the second half.

According to El Mercurio, ‘The leaders of the Ghana Football Asssociation were convinced that the money received by the set to Chile would be proceeds from the collection of it. Upon learning that was not the case and rather, expenses had to be deducted from the money after which the remainder would be paid to Ghana, the Ghana delegation leadership was furious. The situation angered the Chilean delegation, who felt that the match organisers had brought the game into disrepute by delaying payments.’

El Mercurio also reports that ‘Also, the situation worsened at the time that Africans learned that the national assembly (Chile delegation) had already been advanced $ 125,000 and that they had secured the money from the fund. They demanded equal treatment and so much was the anger that the Ghana team did not even open the door of the locker room when the officials repeatedly knocked for the team to return for the second half.’

The Vice President of the Chilean Football Federation (ANFP), Cristian Varela says a formal complaint has been issued to world governing body FIFA over the incident.

‘It was a lack of respect that made Ghana do what the players did. Imagine our players forced to wait in the cold and rain, with so many Chileans at the stadium, and living a dream. For this reason, we will send our complaint to FIFA . Gorka Villar, son of Angel Maria Villar, president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation, will be our legal counsel. We want those responsible (for the delay) to pay for what they did.’

Varela also noted that even if the organisers settled the debt, the claim to FIFA would be for the delay.

‘They are FIFA agents and failure to pay means that the same FIFA has to take care of the balance. In that sense, it's all protected. However, even if the organizers advanced us $ 125,000, we will raise a claim to FIFA for what happened.'