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South African players don't want pay made public
JOHANNESBURG (AP) -- South African soccer players don't want criminals to know how much they'll be paid for playing in the World Cup.According to today's Star newspaper, players have asked the South African Football Association to keep private the amount of money being paid to team members.
Former captain Neil Tovey said players fear they'll be targeted by criminals if the amount they are making becomes public.
Association chief executive Danny Jordan said the players would be "taken good care of" and receive amounts similar to players in other countries.
He confirmed the players would get more than they did for playing in the African Nations Cup tournament this year. For that tournament, South African players received 20,000 rand ($5,690 Cdn) per match, plus another 20,000 rand for a victory and 10,000 rand ($2,845 Cdn) for a draw.
South Africa won three matches, drew two and lost one in reaching the championship match of the tournament.
South Africa is making its first World Cup appearance after being banned for 29 years from international soccer because of apartheid. It is in Pool C with host France, Denmark and Saudi Arabia in the opening round.
NEXT ROUNDS: Round of 16 || Quarter-finals || Semi-finals
GROUP A: Brazil, Morocco, Norway, Scotland
GROUP B: Austria, Cameroon, Chile, Italy
GROUP C: Denmark, France, Saudi Arabia, South Africa
GROUP D: Bulgaria, Nigeria, Paraguay, Spain
GROUP E: Belgium, Holland, Mexico, South Korea
GROUP F: Germany, Iran, United States, Yugoslavia
GROUP G: Colombia, England, Romania, Tunisia
GROUP H: Argentina, Croatia, Jamaica, Japan