Togo PM to resolve pay dispute

June 8th, 2006 | By: Nick O'Neill | 6 Comments »

Togo’s Prime Minister will fly out to Germany, to resolve a pay dispute with Togo players. Times have changed in football. When England won the World Cup in 1966, Geoff Hurst (who scored a hatrick in the final) was on 300 pounds a week. The average for those days was a 200 pounds a week for players. That was huge compared to the average man and woman, but still meant players had to work for a while before bring able to buy a house. Now its all changed, with spoilt little bitches like David Beckham and Wayne Rooney getting 150,000 a week.

Togo players, some of whom play in lower European leagues, or even amateur, are demanding 155,000 euros ($198,700) each to play in the finals, plus an additional 30,000 euros each per win and 15,000 euros per draw.

Media reports suggested things had been resolved last week, but this is apparently not the case. PM Edem Kodjo, and Togo’s sports minister will arrive on Friday.

Tags: Edem Kodjo, Germany2006, Togo, TogoPay, WorldCup

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Comments

By RobertZ | June 10th, 2006 at 4:09 pm

Certainly the dumbest story to come out of the World Cup so far. Amazing what greed can do to usurp common sense. What a lost opportunity – especially now with reports the coach has opted not to coach the matches.

By dan | June 10th, 2006 at 11:26 pm

Real foolish. The Sparrowhawks just about have thrown their last chance of making a good impression on the world stage. Sigh. Adebayor will still score though.

Posted from Singapore

By Vin | June 11th, 2006 at 12:14 am

Did I read that the Togo coach quit? I saw a headline that said something like that on the BBC.

Actually, here it is:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/world_cup_2006/teams/togo/5066770.stm

Posted from United States

By jimmer | June 12th, 2006 at 7:14 am

Get a grip people. Here’s a coach who is actually trying to look out for his team members. I’ll take him in my corner anyday. He didnt make the shithole world of capitalism – we were all born into it. He is trying to secure a little financial future from the government for his players. These guys make a pittance compared to the major league players. After these 4 weeks are over you will all forget about Togo but the players will have to go back home and carry on. Wht should the rich government benefit most from these players putting their hearts into their matches? I say good on him for making a stink over this issue. He has made the ultimate sacrifice for his players lives. Stop trying to pretend that the World Cup is about sport alone. It’s also about commercial interests and money.

Posted from Japan

By Brad | June 12th, 2006 at 4:15 pm

Well said Jimmer. The players and the coach are not to blame. I believe the Togo Football Federation is to blame for not being better organized and honoring it’s players/coaches.

Posted from Canada

By Peter Amevi | June 13th, 2006 at 2:33 am

Togo history is made of his population sacrifices. The players’ bonus requirement is also against the government. The former dictator of the country who died about 18 months ago had put his relatives everywhere. The actual president of Togo is his son who is not elected by the population. The president of the Togoleese football is his other son. The ministry of defense is also another son and so on. President Chirac and French gorvernement support the corrupted Togo government. So the players and the population don’t want to be taken as idiot anymore. The players don’t want the government to take advantage on them. Enough is enough. The money the players were asking for is nothing compared. They player will share this money with their family who have been suffering. The government is just selfish.

Posted from Canada

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