Prizes for Winners of Coca Cola World Cup Promotion Raffle

Sixty-one winners of this year's Coca-Cola world cup promotion were last week presented with their prizes at a colourful ceremony in Accra.

Each of the winners received a cheque for ?8.1 million being a share of the ?500million jackpot that was launched two and a half months ago.

The managing director of Coca-Cola, Mr. Sequn Oqunsanya, said the ?500 million was aimed at creating a forum for football lovers in the country to connect with the company's brand of soft drink to win a share of the jackpot.

To ensure transparency, the company decided to involve the Department of National Lotteries in the authentication and monitoring of the process to certify the genuine of the winners.

The chairman of the Ghana Football Association, on his part, said the country could secure a slot at the 2006 world cup if pragmatic efforts are put in place to transform the Black Stars ahead of the qualifying series.

It would be recalled that Coca-Cola launched a FIFA world cup promotion dubbed, "Drink, Collect & Win" last May to refresh and reward football fans in the country through the jackpot.

Some of the winners of the jackpot included Samuel Dovlo (Simpa Hall, UCEW); Richard Nyarko (Commonwealth Hall Legon); John Agyei, Alex Kofi Boadi, Janet Asante, Michael Adu Bonsu, Sehia Kabi (Swedru) and Naomi Yanki.

Some of the winners revealed that they traded on the crown corks of their friends and colleagues before they were able to secure three winning corks to win part of the jackpot.

One of the winners, Selina Kubi, who described her win as unexpected, said she is going to use her share of the jackpot (?8.1 million) to grow one soft drink business.

Present at the ceremony were the Brazilian Ambassador to Ghana, His Excellency Dr. Wolovski and the representative of the Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports, Mr. Abdulai Yakubu.