Warriors pick up $50 million bonuses each

Warriors pick up $50 million bonuses each

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By Nyasha Mapuwei

ZIMBABWE'S Warriors smiled all the way to the bank after the Zimbabwe Football Association rewarded them with a $50 million bonus each for beating Rwanda and qualifying for the 2006 African Cup of Nations.

The players were given $40 million each for the win, and $10 million appearance fees.

Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe Football Association has confirmed the match grossed $2,5 billion, but insists the money was not enough to cover its expenses.

The Warriors were paid the money on Sunday night, hours after they beat the Wasps of Rwanda.

The Warriors still have a match against Nigeria, the match of which will round off their World Cup and African Cup of Nations campaign.

Zifa programmes manager, Jonathan Musavengana, confirmed that the warriors were paid their winning bonuses and appearance fees on Sunday.
“All the players were paid their dues on the very night, soon after the match. It is encouraging for the players to get their dues in time to encourage positive results ahead of the finals in Egypt,” said Musavengana.

He said the players were given hard cash soon after the match for winning against Rwanda while the overall rewards for taking the team to the Nations Cup were still to be worked out.

In 2003, all the players who took part in the two campaigns got monetary rewards depending on the number of appearances of a player over the same period.

At that time, captain Peter Ndlovu who had played all the qualifying matches got the highest amount.

This will also put coaches who started the campaign last year in the picture.
The Warriors campaign started with Rahman Gumbo and Brenna Msiska who were in charge of the first four games.

The two were replaced by Charles Mhlauri and Moses Chunga who worked together for the next four games before Chunga was fired to leave Mhlauri to take care of the Rwanda game alone.

Zifa chairman Rafik Khan said the gate-takings windfall fell short of their expenses.

Of the total gross money $700 million went to the Sports and Recreation Commission, with the other going to player bonuses and accomodation.

About 55 000 fans attended the match in which the Warriors won 3-1 to seal a place at the 2006 African Cup of Nations finals in Egypt. It was the Warriors last home game in the run up to Egypt as their last match is against the Super Eagles of Nigeria in Kano.

With the win, the Warriors took themselves into the elite 16 African nations that will do battle for African honours in Egypt.

At the same time the win also left the Warriors with an outside chance to go through to the World Cup in Germany although it is a matter of mathematical possibilities.

If the Warriors beat Nigeria by more than three goals and Rwanda beat Angola then the Warriors will go through to Germany to represent Africa - Daily Mirror
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