Dream team not entitled to bonuses in Rio — Dalung
Youth and Sports minister Solomon Dalung
has stated that the national U-23 football team were not entitled to
receive match bonuses at the ongoing Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
The team, who qualified for the
semi-finals after beating Denmark 2-0 on Saturday, had threatened to
boycott the quarter-final match against the Danes if their outstanding
allowances and the five months salaries owed coach Samson Siasia were
not paid.
Dalung said the team’s outstanding camp allowances for 11 days were paid on Saturday.
Dalung stated, “I spoke with the captain
of the team Mikel Obi and I explained to him that match bonuses are
only paid to players during the World Cup or Africa Cup of Nations but
not at the Olympic or Commonwealth Games.
This is their first appearance
at the Olympics so the players may not know that they don’t pay match
bonuses at the Games.
“We have paid all outstanding camp
allowances for the Rio Games to the players so we owe them nothing. On
Siasia, the federation has admitted that they owe him five months
salaries.
He was owed before he agreed to take the team to Atlanta, so
making it an issue now after qualifying for the quarter-finals is not in
the interest of the country.
I have appealed to the coach and the
players to put the country first before personal interest. All other
issues that need to be addressed will definitely be addressed after the
Olympics,” the minister said.
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