Burkina Faso: coaching staffs unpaid for six months
Burkina Faso's current and former head coaches, along with their respective staffs, have received no salary since January.
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After Burkina Faso's finish at the latest Africa Cup of Nations, described in the source as ‘eighth of a finalist’ (a literal rendering of malformed wording; the exact round is unclear), Hubert Velud was dismissed by the Burkinabé Football Federation's executive committee, which did not wish to renew his contract when it expired on 30 April.
The FBF appointed former youth-team coach Brama Traoré to replace him. The problem is that neither coach, nor their respective staffs, has received a single salary payment since January 2024.
Could a case be brought to FIFA?
Officially, the state wanted to settle the previous coaching team's four months of arrears in one payment and pay the new team's salaries at the same time. A request was sent to the Sports Ministry for the contracts to be forwarded so the situation could be resolved.
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The problem, according to our information, is that only Velud and his staff’s contracts were sent, not those of Traoré and the previous coaching team. Why? It remains a mystery, as Sports Minister Boubakar Savadogo simply denied the affair. "The person handling the file can give you the correct information to avoid writing fake news," he wrote to Sport News Africa.
Despite our follow-up requests, nobody at the ministry responsible for the file has come forward. That stance raises questions, as these salary delays could quickly lead to proceedings before FIFA and expose the Burkinabé Football Federation to sanctions.