Ghana didn’t pay bribes to qualify for previous World Cups – Fred Pappoe

Former Vice President of the Ghana Football Association, Fred Pappoe, has described as preposterous, any suggestion that his administration paid bribes before Ghana qualified to the three previous World Cups.

According to Pappoe who was the second-in-command at the GFA from 2005 to 2011, and was instrumental when Ghana qualified for the 2006 and 2010 World Cup, it took a lot of hard work and sacrifices to ensure the Black Stars made it to Germany and South Africa.

This year, Ghana failed to successfully qualify for a fourth straight World Cup in Russia, losing out to the impressive Egypt squad led by Mohammed Salah. And the immediate past Sports Minister alleged that the Black Stars failed to make it to Russia because his outfit failed to pay “unclassified payments’ to the GFA to bribe referees.

Vanderpuije pointed out that some of the Black Stars players came to him when he was at the helm of affairs to tell him to comply with the paying of money for “Ways and Means” but he objected.

“The national team players were coming to me when I was the minister that I should pay bribe otherwise we won’t qualify for the World Cup but I objected,” Vanderpuye told Atinka TV

“The players stressed that paying of bribes is the procedure Ghana have been using to qualify for the World Cup. I knew it was some of the FA officials who sent them because they cannot come themselves and tell me that,”
Vanderpuye continued:” I do not want Ghana football to be banned by FIFA otherwise I will have revealed secrets. Sometime I also choose not to travel with the Black Stars because that is where most of this things take place,”
But according to Fred Pappoe it is an insult for anyone to suggest that Ghana paid bribes to referees to gain favor and ultimately qualify for those World Cups.

“Did you see the effect of a bribed referee when Black Stars played South Africa in Johannesburg in June 2005 where we beat them 2-0? Did you even suspect that the referee had been bribed? When we went to Congo and drew with them which was the first time in 15 years and then we proceeded to the World Cup and beat Czech Republic and USA at the World Cup by bribing the referee, come on?