Fifa has ruled that it was illegal for the Ghana government to collect the US$11m the Ghana Football Association (GFA) earned from the World Cup in June.

The government now faces the propects of returning part of the money if not all to the GFA after Fifa expressed displeasure over the action.

Under the pressure from the Ministry of Sport two months ago the GFA paid all the monies it earned for the Black Stars reaching the quarter final.

Even though government has taken full control over the money its spends on the national teams, attempts have been made by the Serious Fraud Office to probe payments the GFA receives from Fifa, other international bodies and sponsors.

Fifa expects that monies accrued from the global competition must be invested into the development of the game in the country through the local federation.

Fifa insists that the government must stay away from auditing the GFA’s accounts in respect to money received from sources other than government.

“The government of Ghana could audit the GFA accounts related to the attribution of government funds,” the Fifa scribe Jerome Valcke said in the statement to the BBC.

“This of course excludes the funds coming from other sources such as Fifa, Caf or corporate sponsors.”

Government collected all the money from the GFA and didn’t pay the players their bonuses at the promised time.