During his stint with Asante Kotoko, Alhassan Mohammed Bukari unveiled the modest paycheck he received as a player.
Speaking to Ghanasportspage.com, he revealed earning GHS350, a sum he found sufficient back in 2003, especially compared to the GHS150 monthly income of national service personnel at the time.
Bukari, then a teenager, credited this income for helping him through his studies at KNUST, as Kotoko also covered his hostel fees and utility bills.
“My time at Kotoko, I was still a student at TECH, I was taking 350gh then, somewhere 2003 there, it wasn’t bad because those times national service personnel were taking around 150gh. It could have taken like four months then I had not gone for my national service allowance.
“Whenever I go there (NSS), they will only pay me two months’ allowance, but I wasn’t bothered because my salary at Kotoko was doing a lot for me. Kotoko paid for my hostel fee, utility bills etc, there was a team bus that was transporting us to training in and out so we didn’t really spend our salary that much so it was good those times,” he told Ghanasportspage.com.
“Those times, I think it was only Berekum Chelsea that was a bit closer to Kotoko in terms of salary payment. My salary was the lowest at the club (Kotoko) those days and some other young players. Amed Toure was receiving around 1000gh, Nafiu Iddrisu, Nathaniel Asamoah, Kofi Nti Boakye, Nii Adjei, Prince Anokye, Jordan Opoku, Stephen Oduro were the highest earners, we had big players that time.”
Despite having one of the lowest salaries at the club, Bukari found solace in the fact that he could allocate his earnings towards essentials like handouts, books, food, and equipment. Additionally, the team enjoyed perks such as transportation to training and bonus incentives for goals scored, further supplementing their income.
“I was using my salary to pay for handouts, books, foodstuff, boots and other stuff. I didn’t have family then, I wasn’t married, didn’t have a child so that 350gh was very good money, we took a winning bonus of 250gh too so I couldn’t even spend all before the month ended. There was a game we drew, K.K Sarpong gave us a winning bonus and said we’d done well. We were also getting other incentives like we were taking money for every goal we scored in a game, he (K.K Sarpong) gave us 1000gh so we created an account for that money so at the end of the season then we shared so the more we score goals, the more money we were getting”
Alhassan Mohammed, 33, spent four years at Kotoko, winning several trophies including the Ghana Premier League titles and the MTN FA Cup.
