'Fifa has no relationship with players hence bonuses won't be paid directly to them'

Safa CEO Lydia Monyepao has dismissed reports that Fifa will pay players who participated in the World Cup directly, indicating the world football governing body “doesn’t have a relationship with the players”, hence the money will be given to associations to pay the players.

“Fifa doesn’t have a relationship with the players [but] they have a relationship with the member associations and it’s something that they put clearly. So, they’ll have to give us the money and we’ll distribute it,” Monyepao said at Safa House on Tuesday, where Safa announced Hollywoodbets as the new sponsor of the fourth-tier of SA football.

The Safa CEO reiterated they’d distribute the money to players immediately when Fifa transferred it, confirming the association had already paid the players the bonuses from the combined R6m donated by the Motsepe Foundation and Ithuba National Lottery.

“Once the money is here, the money is gone. Actually, last week we paid the players the monies that we got from the Motsepe Foundation. It was R230,000 [per player] before tax... you can check with them [the players],” Monyepao said.

Quizzed when exactly the global football controlling body was likely to make the transactions, the Safa chief executive said: “I’ve been out of the country for sometime but I know that there was correspondence on that [as to when will Fifa pay the money to member associations]... I will check and revert to you.”

Banyana reached the last 16 at the just-ended World Cup, co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, meaning each player will pocket $60,000 (about R1,097,000) from the Fifa incentive scheme.

Meanwhile, the new Hollywoodbets-Safa partnership will run for two years with an option for a further year. The fourth-tier has been without a sponsor since SAB ended their partnership with the association in 2019.

“With this new partnership, we anticipate a future of enhanced player exposure, elevated competition, and professional club development. This sponsorship is more than just financial support, it’s a powerful testament to the shared vision of uplifting communities,” said Safa vice president Linda Zwane, who refused to divulge how much the deal was worth.