Youth and Sports Minister, Mustapha Ussif, has said the $25 million the ministry is seeking from government and corporate bodies will be used to cater for all national teams.
On Monday, it emerged that the Black Stars will need a total of $25m for their 2022 World Cup qualifiers and the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations to be hosted in Cameroon next year.
This was after a breakfast meeting held with Chief Executive Officers from corporate Ghana at the Jubilee House.
The news got many Ghanaian football lovers angry which led many to criticize the decision of the government.
But, Hon. Ussif said the said amount will be used to cater for national team assignments for the next two years and not just the Black Stars.
“The budget we have is not only for the Black Stars; it is for all our national team activities from now till 2022,” the Member of Parliament for Kubori-Yagaba told Citi TV.
“We have 8 world cup qualifiers, the CHAN team will be playing qualifiers, the women’s team as well, and we have to participate at the AFCON, and if we qualify for the world cup, we will participate there as well,” he said.
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“We have U-17, U-20, U-23 and the senior national teams and same for the women and all these teams have tournaments to play.
“We have done estimates for all our national teams and we think that we need about $25 million to cater for all their expenses.
Government has already committed $10 million of the amount and formed a four-member committee headed by the Sports Minister to solicit for the remaining $15 million.
The Black Stars have already qualified for the AFCON 2022 tournament and will begin the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers in June this year.