How Afcon bonuses helped Shikalo build a house for his mother
Harambee Stars goalkeeper third choice goalkeeper during last year’s Africa Cup of Nations Farouk Shikalo is excited on how the bonuses during the campaign, helped him bring a smile on her mum’s face.
Shikalo who was voted the best Kenyan Premier League (KPL)goalkeeper last season, before caught the eyes of Tanzania league giants Yanga where he currently plies his trade, told People Sport that the bonuses became major motivation to players and will now make each player yearn to represent the country at international stages to make a windfall.
“The money I realised from the bonuses I received during the continental campaign last year, helped me finish my mum’s house in Kitale which had stalled for some time and that was one of my dreams and objectives,” Shikalo said.
“Since I started playing football, I have never received such an amount of money as bonus.
And I don’t think that applies to myself only but for many other local based players playing either in the local or regional leagues.
We were lucky to have been those who have earned the highest amount of bonuses ever while representing the national team in the history of the team” he said.
He added: “When you get such kind of money, you want it to make a difference and to remember the occasion.
For me, it helped me finish off a number of projects and one of them was to complete the construction of my mother’s house.
I want to thank Football Kenya Federation (FKF) and the ministry of sports for making this possible and I hope the remaining part of the bonus can be sorted out quickly.”
High level training
Each player in the squad is believed to have earned at least Sh750,000, but there is an amount that they are still expecting to be paid after beating Tanzania 3-2 in their last group match at the continental showpiece.
Shikalo lauded the high level training camp the team had in France prior to the continental tournament in Egypt where they were returning after 15 years.
“It was a big motivation to train in France and play key build-up matches against Mauritius and DR Congo to gauge ourselves, however, I personally want to have another opportunity to once again qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations finals but this time be able to play, because I didn’t have a chance to feature in any of our matches in Egypt” he said.
