Former Black Stars defender Frimpong Manso has revealed the reasons behind Ghana's humiliating 6-1 defeat against Germany in Bochum on April 14, 1993.
The defeat infamously known as Bochum Disaster is one of the worst results in Ghana's history. Many least expected such a result considering the Black Stars team at the time were very strong, having come close to lifting Africa Cup of Nations title in 1992.
Ghana took a first-half lead through Prince Opoku who connected home captain Abedi ‘Pele’ Ayew’s rebound. However, the Germans ran riot in the second half to score six unanswered goals.
Almost three decades after, the Asante Kotoko legend has revealed that unfairness in the payment of allowances to the players led to the defeat.
“We never knew that the management of the Black Stars at that time discriminated in the payment of per diem allowance to the Black Stars.
It was in Bochum that we realised that there were differences in allowances for the local players and that for their foreign-based counterparts.
While local players were paid in local currencies, foreign players were paid in dollars which was far higher in value than the local currency,” lamented Manso who featured in the match.
Explaining further, he noted that a day before the match, the GFA chairman and team leader, Nana Sam Brew-Butler, announced at a meeting that the foreign-based players would be given $1000 while the home-based players would be given 1,000 Deutsche Marks, a disparity which reportedly infuriated the players and created heated argument and protest in camp.
“So early in the following morning, Salifu Ansah, Emmanuel Armah, Ali Ibrahim and I went to Nana Butler and demanded to know why there were discrepancies in our per diem.
"In response, Nana Butler said the system had operated for some time so he could not change it. We then protested vehemently until he rescinded his decision and indicated that local players who would start the match would be paid in dollars just like their foreign-based counterparts. This incident did not go well with the players before playing Germany.”
When Manso who was substituted in the 66th minute after reportedly sustaining an injury, it created a hole in Ghana’s defence which the Germans capitalised on to score six unanswered goals. He said it took him three months to recover from the injury.
“I felt severe pain, so I did not want to aggravate the injury. That was why I called to be substituted. I never left the field in protest because it took me more than three months before I fully recovered.”