Prosper Addo:Disbursement of FIFA COVID-19 fund begins

Club administrators of both Premier and Division One sides who will troop to Prampram on Tuesday, September 1, 2019  for the Ghana Football Association’s (GFA) Congress will be smiling all the way to the bank following the disbursement of the FIFA COVID-19 relief funds by the FA.

The GFA General Secretary, Mr Prosper Harrison Addo, confirmed to the Daily Graphic that the congress would come off tomorrow at the FA’s Technical Centre at Prampram and dismissed media reports that it had been put on hold by a court injunction.

He stressed that the football governing body had not been served with any such injunction to occasion the postponement of the ordinary congress being convened to make ammendments to parts of the GFA statutes.

“Techiman City wrote to us on August 26 and made some demands to our agenda with threats that if we did not respond the same day, they would go to court.

“I responded and said their issue would be considered .Beside, FIFA has also responded to their demands, hence the need for us to meet at congress to address all outstanding grievances.

 “If there is something to be added to the agenda they can add at congress so there is no need to go to court over such issues. You need not go to court to ask for approval on agenda before going to congress,” Mr Addo explained to the Graphic Sports Online on Sunday August 30.

On the FIFA COVID-19 fund for football clubs in Ghana, Mr Addo said since the fund hit the accounts of the FA  last Friday, the football governing body felt the need to disburse them without delay.

 “The GFA has started disbursing the FIFA COVID 19 fund for both Premier and Division One clubs as a way of cushioning them.

“We are disbursing the money immediately because that is how the FA works. It hit our accounts at the weekend and we don’t want to keep it. That explains why we are immediately disbursing it to the club administrators.”

According to the FA’s chief administrator, letters concerning the FIFA money were being dispatched to the club administrators to give them access to the disbursed funds.

He explained that the money was in two tranches -- $500,000 for the female clubs and a FIFA Solidarity Fund of $500,000.00 which should have hit the FA’s accounts in July.

An additional $500,000, he indicated, would be paid by the world body next January to support the clubs which have been hit hard by the effects of the COIVID-19 pandemic.