Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has said that the Polish national football team will not receive any bonuses from the government for advancing from the group stage at the football World Cup in Qatar.
In Qatar, the Polish team made it into the knockout round for the first time since 1986, but they had to leave the tournament on Sunday after losing 3-1 to France.
On Tuesday, Morawiecki wrote on Facebook that he believed that “rewarding for results at the most prestigious tournaments is an important element of the whole system and at the same time the role of the (Polish Football – ed.) Association and the main sponsors.”
“Finally, straight to the point: there will be no government funds for bonuses for football players,”
he added.
According to Monday’s reports from the Wirtualna Polska website, Morawiecki was said to have promised the Polish football team players before their departure for the World Cup in Qatar that they would receive a bonus of at least PLN 30 million (EUR 6.4 mln) if they advanced beyond the group stage.
This information sparked a wave of criticism. On Monday, government spokesman Piotr Mueller said that the prime minister had talked with the president of the Polish Football Association (PZPN) and the coach of the football team about the fund for training and infrastructure development and the condition was to get out of the group phase.
In his post, Morawiecki also wrote that although making it into the knockout round by the Polish national team for the first time in 36 years “is a great joy” and the state’s role is to support the development of football, this applies primarily to funds for youth training, building infrastructure and support for talented players.
“We will allocate additional funds for these purposes,”
Morawiecki said.