The Confederation of African Football (CAF) will grant a financial subsidy of US$2,5 million to assist African teams at the 2018 Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup to enable them prepare for the tournament.
CAF confirmed the subsidy will be shared equally among the five teams- Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal and Tunisia.
The soccer federations of Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal and Tunisia will also get $1.5 million from FIFA towards their preparations. At previous FIFA tournaments, some African teams have been affected by disputes over unpaid bonuses promised to players.
This was decided its last meeting held on 16 November 2017 in Rabat, Morocco, where the CAF Executive Committee set up an ad hoc committee chaired by the CAF 1st Vice President, Kwesi Nyantakyi, to map out a kind of support to be provided to African representatives to the FIFA World Cup Russia 2018.
The committee, which has CAF Executive Committee member Kalusha Bwalya and presidents of the Football Associations of the five qualified countries as members, met in Moscow, Russia, on the sidelines of the draw for the FIFA World Cup scheduled for 1 December 2017.
At the meeting, it was decided that CAF will grant a financial subsidy of $500,000 (Five Hundred Thousand dollars) to each of the five African teams. The financial package will be used mainly to strengthen and improve the technical supervision of each team.
CAF’s announcement came ahead of the FIFA World Cup Russia 2018 draw in England on Friday evening.
In addition, CAF will provide each African representative with “fieldwiz” equipment, a technological device and physical performance measuring tool for outdoor team sports players.
Inadequate preparations and squabbles over payments have scuttled African teams’ showing at the world’s biggest soccer spectacle.
No African team has gone beyond the quarterfinals.