<a href="
http://www.thetobagonews.com/index.pl/article?id=5444320>55 players to get World Cup $$[/url]
tobagonews
Monday, January 23rd 2006
 Members of the  National Senior Team were to receive their World Cup bonus payments after they were approved by the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation on the weekend.
A total of 55 players, who had been in the national squad dating back to T&T's first qualifying match against Dominican Republic, were to receive payment to the total of US$1,636,357 which was approved by and will be paid off to them by TTFF Special Advisor Jack Warner. The TTFF have not yet received the payment of qualification earnings from FIFA.
It was agreed with the players that they would receive half of the six million Swiss francs to go to the TTFF for qualifying for Germany 2006.
However, at the point in time the proposal was presented to the players, which came after three final round matches when T&T held one point, the agreement was that players who were part of the final round squad  would benefit  from the amount.
Warner then agreed with the players' committee that the other players who were part of the team in the second round (T&T had a first round bye) and semi-final round would also receive a bonus payment.
As is the case for Federations and Associations of all qualified countries, 26.1 per cent of the six million Swiss francs is also withheld by FIFA for German taxes and insurance for injured players during the World Cup.
According to a TTFF Media release, the overall payment structure was one based on a points per match system and players' overall international appearances which was mutually agreed upon by the TTFF and the players. Following that, a balance of US$36,822, the players have decided, will go towards local charities. They themselves will meet to discuss how this is carried out.
The five-man player committee, consisting of Dwight Yorke, Stern John, Dennis Lawrence, Brent Sancho, Shaka Hislop and Kelvin Jack, felt good about the process.
"The players committee and the players in general are very happy about the way things went and how quickly it happened. They (TTFF) did extradite very well," spokesperson Sancho said. Â
The committee further added: "People have tried to change this into a political game as well but it's not a situation where we are trying to pressure the Government into getting things done. But we prefer rather if there would be some sort of communication from them with the players committee rather than just reading in the press about what they plan to do.
"We definitely appreciate their intentions but we prefer to get this out of the way before we start playing our football again as a team and concentrating on playing in Germany 2006."
