Winners of the Africa Cup of Nations will be taking home a mouthwatering $1.5m cash prize, Caf General Secretary Hicham El-Amrani has revealed.
The prize money forms part of a total $10m shared amongst teams that qualifies for the biennial show piece.
The Moroccan�s revelation settles an age-long debate over the financial incentive for playing in Africa�s most prestigious football competition � with several people suggestion there was absolutely no cash reward for winners of the competition.
�There is $10m allocated to teams (16) that qualify for the Nations Cup,� El-Amrani said during Supersport�s Soccer Africa show.
�Out of this 10m, $1.5m is reserved for the winning team as the prize money.�
Kalusha Bwalya who led Zambia�s delegation as their association�s President to win the last CAN earlier this year who was also on the panel confirmed this revelation made by El-Amrani.
�I took delivery of this cheque when we won the Nations Cup in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea,� he said.
It however remains to be seen whether the $1.5m prize money is enough to compensate for the cost involved in seriously preparing a side to win the title.
One Black Stars home game for example runs into over $200,000 in expenses including; camping fees, transportation, security, per diems and bonuses assuming the match is won.
This figure rises when it is an away game and sees a further rise when a qualified Nations Cup team camps and acclimatizes outside the shores of it�s country as well as arranging friendly games just to put the team in perfect shape for the competition which has no guarantee of success � thus making it a highly volatile business venture.
The next Nations Cup will be held in South Africa next January but will be preceded by the final round of qualifiers in September.