The Ministry of Youth and Sports is in hot waters after it emerged that a whopping sum of GH₵142,426, 907.36 million was spent on Ghana's two senior national teams, Black Stars and Black Queens before the start of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
According to a report from Onua TV that has been sighted by GhanaWeb Sports, the amount spent was different from the official expenses that were captured in the Ministry of Sports budget.
After the group stage elimination at the last AFCON in Cameroon, the Black Stars played seven matches before the start of the 2022 FIFA World Cup on Sunday, November 20, 2022.
Ghana played a World Cup final qualification double-header against Nigeria before engaging Madagascar and Central Africa Republic in the 2023 AFCON qualifiers. They played Japan and Chile in the Kirin Cup, and three friendly games against Brazil, Nicaragua, and Switzerland.
Out of these seven games, the Black Stars drew 3, won three and lost the final game to Brazil.
The Black Queens on the hand didn't really have a busy 2022 after failing to qualify for the AWCON
Check out the breakdown of how the GH₵142M was spent
In the report, the Ministry released a whooping GH₵8,183,400 for the double-header against the Super Eagles of Nigeria in the World Cup playoff.
The Black Stars qualified for the World Cup with the away goal rule after drawing 0-0 with Nigeria in Kumasi and getting a 1-1 draw in Abuja.
An additional GH₵63,019,369.62 million was released as funds to support the Black Stars’ participation at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar before GH₵8,009,366.40 was released for the payment of the FIFA Rights Fee for the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation.
Again, GH₵4,009,961.74 was spent on Ghana's game against Ethiopia in South Africa and South Africa at the Cape Coast Sports Stadium.
The remaining GH₵1,980,507.86 was released for the Black Queens qualifiers for the Women's AFCON.
The Black Stars of Ghana