World soccer’s governing body, FIFA, has paid over 3 billion cfa to the Ivorian Football Association (FIF) for Cote d’Ivoire’s participation in the 2006 World Cup in Germany, FIF chairman Jacques Anouma announced. Anouma made the announcement at the ordinary general meeting of FIF held on Saturday in Abidjan. The amount was paid in two instalments. The first payment of 414 million cfa helped finance the preparation of the Ivorian national team, and a second instalment of 2.618 billion cfa was paid to FIF for the team’s participation. However, Anouma said that FIFA still owed FIF 488 million cfa. He said that FIF paid 464 million cfa as bonuses to players, while 1.188 billion cfa was spent – out a 2.6 billion budget – at the 2008 African Cup of Nations in Ghana. The FIF chairman also announced that the Association’s budget for the current season would be about the same as last season’s, which stood at 7 billion cfa.
