Popular businessman and football administrator Osei Boateng has come to the aid of over 60 footballers by paying them COVID-19 relief allowances, special aide Buhari Zakari has confirmed to Ghana Sports Online.
The popular football administrator has forked out a whopping sum of GHS17,200 [USD$2,980] within 3 months with an average of 57 players benefitting from the package per month.
11 Ghana Premier League stars including Medeama goalkeeper Eric Ofori Antwi, Berekum Chelsea’s on loan Asante Kotoko goalkeeper Ibrahim Danlad, Sabi Ferdinand of WAFA and former Hearts of Oak midfielder Emmanuel Mintah are all among the beneficiaries.
Other 52 players drawn from various Division One League clubs from selected Zone I clubs in the Bono, Bono East and Ahafo regions also benefited from the special package which has been running since the month of April.
“As part of his [Osei Boateng] birthday celebration in the middle of April he promised to aid them [players] GHS100 [USD$17.32] each for three months,” he told Ghana Sports Online.
“We catered for 47 players in the first month, 63 in the second month and 62 in the last month,” Buhari, who is a former Public Relations Officer for B/A United, added.
Football activities in the country have been halted since early March due to the Coronavirus outbreak and the government’s nationwide restriction on social activities includes all contact sports leaving the Ghanaian football regulatory body, Ghana Football Association (GFA), with little powers to resume the sport in the country. The Executive Council of the association announced the cancellation of the 2019/20 season following a marathon meeting on Tuesday.
The financial package from Osei Boateng has presumably done a lot of good to the 63 beneficiaries of the relief package as some clubs struggle to carry out their financial obligations to their players as their revenue streams continue to dry out due to the absence of football for over 4 months.
Osei Boateng is a former Chief Executive Officer of B/A United, Bofoakwa Tano and Berekum Chelsea and has been strongly linked to the vacant Aduana Stars CEO position.
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