FIFA won't pay Banyana players directly, claims SAFA CEO

South African Football Association (SAFA) chief executive Lydia Monyepao confirmed this when asked for an update on what was a sensitive subject ahead of the team's departure for the global showpiece co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand. 

Banyana reached the round of 16 last month having finished as runners-up in a group that included Sweden, Italy and Argentina. However, they were eliminated by the Netherlands in the round of 16 in Sydney. 

According to a memo released by FIFA ahead of the World Cup, the prize money for reaching that stage of the competition was USD 1870 000, which equates to almost R1 million for each player. 

Monyepao told journalists on Tuesday the delay was due to tax considerations, which the world football governing body was working around the clock to rectify as quickly as possible. 

“I know there was a tax issue that needed to be resolved. The New Zealand and Australian government wants to impose some tax implications and FIFA are in talks with them around that,” the SAFA CEO explained. 

“Once the money is in, the money will be gone. Last week we paid the players the money we got from the Motsepe Foundation and Ithuba, it was distributed – you can check with them. As we said, I believe it was around R230 000 (each), and that money was distributed to the players.” 

During the World Cup, there were reports FIFA would pay the prize allocation directly into the players’ accounts to avoid members' associations meddling in their financial affairs as stories over bonus rows overshadowed the tournament. But Monyepao labelled that “fake news”. 

“FIFA does not have a relationship with the players – the relationship is with the member association and it’s something that they’ve made clear. They give us the money and we distribute,” she elaborated. 

“I saw those reports going around, that was definitely fake news. I was very quick to correct those that I knew. We had a lengthy meeting with FIFA in Abidjan (Ivory Coast) during the CAF congress, where we ironed out certain issues. It was made very clear by FIFA the money would be transferred to the member associations.”