The South African Football Association (SAFA) Acting CEO Tebogo Motlanthe has refuted rumours that the football mother body is planning to do away with match bonuses at Bafana Bafana.
The word from the recent Bafana Bafana camp, where they played two international friendly matches against Namibia and Zambia at the Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace in Rustenburg, was that SAFA is planning to scrap match bonuses in international friendly matches and qualifiers.
It was alleged that the cash strapped organization was only willing to pay bonuses if the team manages to finish in the top three at the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament – a feat the South African senior men’s national football team has not been able to achieve in 20 years.
Motlanthe has refuted the rumours, telling iDiski Times that they are far-fetched.
“That is hearsay I will not give it any credence at this point. It does not mean that when you start negotiating with someone there is a position, we don’t have a position and we are still in talks on many different aspects.
“I must applaud the players, I had different meetings with their leadership and we agreed on things which we need to engage together so I will be betraying them if I start engaging with media on matters which we are still discussing,” reasoned Motlanthe on this matter.
After bowing out in the quarter-finals at the AFCON tournament in Egypt last year, Bafana players pocketed R520 000 each, having eliminated the hosts in the last 16 round. Had they beaten Nigeria to make the semis they could have received R670 000 per player, and a whooping R920 000 for winning the tournament! AFCON winners (Algeria) received a pay cheque of around R75 million last year after beating Senegal 2-1 in the final at Cairo international stadium.
Bafana Bafana did not have a successful international break recently as they were held to a 1-all draw by the Brave Warriors of Namibia and lost 2-1 to Milutin “Micho” Sredojevic’s Zambian team.
Previously it was reported that Bafana earn as much as R60 000 for a win, R40 000 for a draw and take home nothing for a defeat outside the tournaments.
“There is no review, as a new CEO I met with the players and they raised their issues and we agreed on how we will engage on these matters going forward,” concluded Motlanthe.
SAFA recently predicted that they are expecting a surplus of R60 million this year after making a R74 million loss in 2019.
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