‘Give local players minimum wage’
The General Secretary of the Professional Footballers Association of Ghana (PFAG), Tony Baffoe, believes the introduction of a minimum wage of GHC 1,000 for players in the local league will stem the mass exodus of talented footballers to Europe.
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The former FC Cologne defender, in an interaction with the media at the Golden Tulip Hotel last Friday, argued that the Sports Bill must make a provision for the welfare of local players during and after their careers.
“When our politicians discuss the Sports Bill in Parliament, the welfare of players should be included. If a player can earn GHC 1,000 or $1,000 in Ghana they won’t move to countries such as Bangladesh, India on Eastern European clubs, where black players go through difficult times”, he stressed.
“A local star moves to certain Maghreb countries and after three months they have trouble paying salaries and the clubs don’t care about the welfare of the players and how they survive.
Also, unscrupulous agents can take 10 players to a country and if only two succeed they take the money and abscond, leaving the rest to their fate”, he added.
Baffoe, who has played on three continents, from Fortuna Dusseldorf (Germany), FC Metz (France) both in Europe to Hong Kong Golden (Asia) and Caracas FC (Venezuela), in South America disclosed that the PFAG was close to introducing a pension fund for players on the local scene to cushion their lives after retirement.
“Our pension scheme with Fidelity Bank will see to the welfare of players after their careers.
The proposal is currently before the Ghana Football Association and we have our Board of Trustees in place, the fund will run for 10 years and there will be a deduction of 7.5 percent from the salaries of players.
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“We took the average age of retirement at 35 years after which we will give the player 40 per cent of his total contribution but if he has a critical illness or needs some money, the Board of Trustees will come together and decide how to disburse the rest”, he underlined.
This, he stressed would ensure that players enjoyed their lives after retirement.