24th November, 2022
By Shedrack Frank
Gov. Douye Diri of Bayelsa has rewarded players of Bayelsa Queens Football Club for their performance at the 2022 Confederation of African Football Women’s Championship League (CAFWCL) in Rabat, Morocco.
Announcing the rewards on Thursday in Government House, Yenagoa, Diri said 21 of the first team players would receive N1 million each while the 14 reserve players would get N500,000 each.
The technical adviser got N1.1 million, assistant coaches N500,000 each, support staff N300,000 each and all the board members would get N1.5 million.
He directed the release of the monies to the team before the end of November and made a personal donation of $4,000 to the team in fulfilment of his promise at the quarter-final stage of the competition.
His words: “Your government has decided to reward you for your outstanding performance in the CAF women’s champions league.
“All the 21 players in the first team that participated in the competition will get N1 million each. I direct that these monies be released between now and the end of November,” he said.
He congratulated the team for being the first team to take Nigeria to the semi-final of the competition,
Diri assured that the medical bills of an injured player would be underwritten by the government.
The governor said that their performance had made the state and the country proud and justified the resources spent on them for the competition.
“You have proven that Nigeria is indeed a football country and that we are not a pushover when it comes to football in Africa and indeed the world.
“The image of the state is largely being imprinted in female football in Nigeria, West Africa and in Africa at large.
“You have made the state and country proud by bringing home the bronze medal,” he stated.
He thanked Premium Trust Bank for supporting the team with a donation of N50 million and the provision of jerseys.
Diri urged the private sector to emulate the gesture towards supporting sports development in the state.
“I like to call on the private sector to come in to support sports development and in particular the game of football in the state team,” he said.
The governor charged the Commissioner for Youths and Sports, immediately commence preparations for the next CAF competition towards winning the gold trophy.
Diri said his administration would continue to support sports development and urged youths to take advantage of sporting activities to earn a living to avoid being used as political thugs or getting involved in drug addiction.
Earlier, the Commissioner for Youth and Sports Development, Daniel Igali, said the Nigerian champions finished third in the tournament after a 1-0 win against Simba FC of Tanzania in their third-place match.
He said they also emerged as the best entertaining and well-behaved team and received the Fair Play award in addition to $150,000 after losing 0-1 in the semi-final against ASFAR of Morocco.
The commissioner expressed appreciation to the governor for the support of the team and stressed the need to keep the players together in to do better in the next tournament.
The high point of the event was the presentation of the third place trophy and medal to the governor by the Sports Commissioner.