South Sudan national football players during a dinner in Juba. Date; 27/03/2019

The national football governing body says it is working to ensure that players are offered stipends after every match.

It announced this during a dinner it organized for the players in Juba on Wednesday.

“I am working hard to ensure that you start getting salaries after every game,” said Francis Amin Michael, the President of South Sudan Football Association.

It’s not clear what arrangements the SSFA had put in place to support the needs of the players.

But according policies governing national football teams, players are treated as contractors and are often  rewarded based on their of performance on matches.

This means that if a team wins, the players are rewarded higher than when they draw or lose in a tournament.

The Bright Stars senior team lost 3-0 to Mali on Saturday while the U23 where beaten 1-0 by Tunisia in the AFCON qualifiers on Sunday.

However, he encouraged them despite being eliminated from the qualifiers matches.

“It was a learning process for us as the federation and also the two teams. Now that we have learnt we shall be ready for the next edition of the qualifiers,” Mr. Amin said.

Mr. Francis Amin Michael said it was not about going through to the main tournament that mattered, but it is a learning process for the federation and the individual players themselves.

Apparently, he said plans to build a training complex in Juba so that the players can have modern and quality facilities are underway.

“One of our plans as the SSFA is to build a training complex in with modern stuff [such as] bathrooms.”

Regarding development of minors as national teams, Francis Amin said his administration will continue to build the different age groups for a better future of football in South Sudan.

“We shall keep building all age groups in order to build the future of football in our country” said Francis Amin.

The Thursday dinner was attended by board of directors of the association, members of the two national teams and the press.