Beer giant Guinness has announced it is offering incentives to the Cameroon players for good performances in Japan and Korea.
Speaking at a press conference in Yaounde, Guinness managing director Brian Johnson said that the money on offer ranged from £1,000 to £15,000.
And, aside from this bonus, Johnson announced that Guinness Africa will pay £685,000 ($1m) to any African team that wins the World Cup.
Half of the money would go to the team and staff, and half to football development projects in the country.
« The current Cameroonian team, under Rigobert Song’s strong leadership, is the best team Cameroon has ever had, » Johnson said.
« We in Guinness Cameroon are delighted with the offer from our head office because we believe Cameroon can win the World Cup, » he added.
Guinness is already paying £5,000 to each of the Indomitable Lions just for qualifying for the tournament.
Additionally, the best player in each of Cameroon’s games will earn £1000, while the team will get £5000 for progressing beyond the first round.
The money goes up to £10,000 if they reach the semi-finals and £15,000 if they make it to the final.
Motivation
To complete the list of incentives, the company will pay one cent of each bottle of Guinness sold during the World Cup to the team.
Johnson added that, « It is entirely appropriate that Guinness should motivate the national team, to bring out the power in them. »
Skipper Song attended the press conference on behalf of the team.
He said that although happy with the money incentive, the prime motivation of the Cameroon players was to realise their dreams of winning the World Cup.
It is not the first time Guinness has offered large payouts to spur the team to victory.
They also offered incentives to the Cameroon players competing at both the Sydney Olympics and Mali 2002.
In both competitions, the Lions cleaned up.
