2nd August, 2023
By Aderonke Ojediran
Wahidi Akanni, an ex-international said that the decision of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) to pay players allowances directly, will motivate upcoming talents.
Akanni, a former Chairman of the Lagos State Football Association, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Wednesday.
FIFA announced that the 2023 World Cup prize money will be paid directly to the players without interference from a third party.
Fifa will pay out $152m (£122m) in total, three times more than the $50m (£40.2m) paid in 2019.
While $11.5m (£9.3m) is being spent on the club benefits programme, a further $30.7m (£24.5m) is being paid as preparation money.
Fatma Samoura, FIFA Secretary-General, said the policy change is due to unpaid allowance issues involving federations and their players.
“This will encourage players to focus on horning their competitive skills. The game will get more competitive because everyone wants to represent their country, so we will get the best of the best hands,” he said.
Akanni said FIFA’s decision was not an indictment on football administrators.
“This does not necessarily mean that football administrators are guilty of anything, I have been there and as an administrator I understand.
“As long as football is being run by the government, we will continue to have backlog of unpaid allowances and salaries, some players that played years ago are still being owed one allowance or the other.
“Once government changes, nobody remembers to pay. This is not peculiar to Nigeria, even South Africa, I hope this new decision by FIFA will take African administrators back to their drawing boards,” he said.