Gold Fields $60 bonus for Stars

Gold Fields Ghana, headline Sponsor of the Black Stars has made a $60,000 bonus offer to the Black Stars should they be successful in Sunday's Championship for African Nations final against the Democratic Republic of Congo in Abidjan. This came after a meeting between the management of Gold Fields and the Minister of Sport Alhaji Mubarak Muntakar.

This $60,000 package from Gold Fields Ghana for the locally constituted Black Stars falls outside the existing arrangement with the regular senior National football team, which Gold Fields sponsoring to the tune of $1.5 million every year. A delegation from Gold Fields will be in Abidjan on Saturday March 7, 2009, to make the announcement to the team before they take to the field on Sunday against the DRC.

The locally constituted Black Stars have surmounted serious challenges in the two-week tournament to emerge as favourites for the final, against a team they thrashed 3-0 last Sunday March 1. Dr. Tony Aubynn, Corporate Affairs Director at Gold Fields Ghana Limited said: 'This extraordinary quality of not giving up despite the criticism, has earned this team numerous admirers both in Ghana and the rest of the continent. The gesture from Gold Fields is in recognition of the team's achievements thus far and is also aimed at motivating them to give a repeat performance against DR Congo.'

Gold Fields Ghana with mining operations in Tarkwa and Damang, has demonstrated an undying and selfless commitment to Ghanaian football by injecting vast sums of money into the sport in the last five years. The company's $3m a year sponsorship deal reached in 2005, ushered in the most successful era of the Black Stars in recent years. The team earned a first ever place at the FIFA World Cup in 2006, a third place finish in the 2008 African Cup of Nations and currently the team remains on course for a second successive appearance at the South Africa 2010 World Cup. Gold Fields also sponsors Tarkwa-based Division One side, Tarkwa United.