2014 World Cup Fiasco: Kwesi Nyaktakyi blames Sports Ministry for embarrassment

Ex Ghana Football Association president, Kwesi Nyantakyi, has fingered Ghana’s Ministry of Youth and Sports as the main instigator of the embarrassing scenes witnessed in the Ghana camp in Brazil during the 2014 World Cup

The Black Stars were making their third World Cup appearance at the time but suffered a first round exit on the back of financial induced chaos in camp over delays in paying player appearance fees.

According to Nyantakyi, the Sports Ministry was mainly responsible for the terrible situation that had players threatening to boycott Ghana’s final group game against Portugal.

US$3 million had to be flown to Ghana’s camp to resolve the issue and former GFA Boss strongly believes it was the Ministry’s actions or inactions that led to the unfortunate incident.

“Based on previous experiences, the wages are paid in Ghana either by cheque or bank transfer. Once the 23 players list for the World Cup, they should have been paid before heading to the World Cup. The money that was flown to Brazil was unnecessary. They should have been paid in Ghana but it wasn’t paid”.

 “The money isn’t from the GFA, the money is from Bank of Ghana and Bank of Ghana credited the Ministry of Youth and Sports account but giving it to the players became a problem” he said in an interview with Kings TV.

Flying the hefty amount of money to Brazil grabbed world headlines and as events unfolded in Brazil, midfielders Sulley Muntari and Kevin-Prince Boateng were booted out of the Black Stars camp over acts of indiscipline in the course of agitating for their appearance fees to be paid.

Kwesi Nyantakyi is serving a 15-year ban by FIFA from football due to his involvement in match fixing revealed in an investigative documentary titled, “Number 12”.