Govt releases budget for 2022 World Cup: Set to spend $8.1m on three group stage matches

Minister for Youth and Sports, Mustapha Ussif on Friday, November 4, 2022, presented Ghana's budget for the 2022 World Cup to Parliament. In the address, Mustapha Ussif highlighted the possible financial, sporting, tourism, and economic benefit of the World Cup. The Minister disclosed that the government has budgeted $14 million for the Black Stars' campaign in the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. A breakdown of the budget indicates that Ghana is targeting a semi-final finish at the World Cup. The budget for the semi-final is $14,184,100 million which when compared to the benefits Ghana will derive from finishing in the top four makes economic sense. Ghana, according to the minister, stands to gain between $27 million dollars to $42million. For the three group matches against Portugal, South Korea, and Uruguay, the government has budgeted 8,166,200. 00 million US Dollars. With the country already getting $1.5million and an additional $ 9 million for participating in the World Cup, Ghana stands to gain a profit of nearly $ 2 million by just participating in the group stages of the World Cup. He also confirmed that the Ghana Football Association has received $1.5 million from FIFA to augment the Black Stars' preparations for the tournament which begins on November 20, 2022. According to him, part of the $1.5 million they received from FIFA was "useful to organizing the team’s friendly matches to improve technical and managerial readiness for Qatar." The Black Stars will begin their 2022 FIFA World Cup with an opening game against Portugal on Thursday, November 24 at the 974 Stadium in Doha, Qatar. In 2010, the government reportedly budgeted US$19m for the tournament in South Africa. In 2014 when the country's participation was rocked with chaos and disgrace, the government then reportedly spent $9,622,170 on three matches the country played. Watch the latest edition of GhanaWeb Mundial show below