In what can be described as a positive move, the Guyana Football Federation (GFF), the nation’s governing body for association football, has paid players a significant fraction of the outstanding bonus monies for the 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
This was revealed by a source close to the GFF. According to the source, the players were paid a portion of the monies during the month of June.
The source elaborated, “The players were paid in the region of US$310 of the owed bonus monies from the 2019 Gold Cup. This occurred on June 22nd. The players are still owed in the region of US$150 more for that tournament and were told that will be paid shortly. The money owed was basically bonuses for team performance.”
The 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup was staged in the United States of America between June 15th-July 7th. Guyana lost to the host nations USA 4-0 on June 18th before going down to Panama 4-2 on June 22nd. They would end their campaign with a 1-1 draw with Caribbean rival Trinidad and Tobago on June 26th.
Almost a year had passed before the players, especially the members of the locally based contingent who made the trek, were eventually paid a portion of their bonuses.
The GFF has yet to issue a release confirming whether the players have been paid a portion of the monies. Efforts to contact the GFF for a comment proved futile. Several calls to the cellular phone of GFF General Secretary Ian Alves went unanswered up to press time.
However a player, who spoke on the condition of anonymity confirmed the information of the source. Meanwhile, the source further said, “Several players are still owed for the 2017 match in Indonesia. The federation has indicated to those players that they are working on paying that outstanding debt in the near future.”
More than 900 days have passed since the Golden Jaguars, Guyana’s flagship men’s football programme faced-off with South Asian nation and hosts Indonesia in an international friendly which ended 2-1 favour of the latter on November 25th 2017.
According to the source, “It is estimated that the players are owed in the region of US$200-US$300 per player for the game. Basically they owe the players per diem for the game. They didn’t have enough money, they didn’t have the per diem to give the players before they left. This is not bonus money, this is supposed to be essential money that you receive when you arrive. Some players were initially given some money before they left Guyana and were told by the GFF that when they return to Guyana that they will receive the remainder of the money.”
