Botswana FA says it has no more money to pay bonuses

Botswana's players have gone on strike ahead of their Africa Cup of Nations debut

The Botswana Football Association (BFA) insists it does not have the money to incerase the incentives for the Africa Cup of Nations squad.

The BFA have told the players if they do not want to play at the Nations Cup they are free to boycott the event.

The players refused to train on Thursday and Friday in the row but agreed to play a friendly against Zimbabwe on Saturday, which ended 0-0.

The players are still unhappy with the way the BFA is handling the situation.

Coach Stanley Tshosane is due to name a 25-man squad on Sunday that will travel to Cameroon the following day for a training camp.

The Zebras are preparing for their first ever appearance at the Nations Cup finals, which begin in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon on 21 January.

The row between the players and the BFA began in December over their payments.

The players demanded 100,000 Pula (US$13,292) for every member of the final 23-man Nations Cup squad.

Each squad member also wanted a US$2,000 bonus per win, and US$1,000 per draw, in the competition's group stages.

Botswana have been drawn in Group D along with Guinea, Mali and joint favourites Ghana.

The squad also asked for a P35,000 (US$4,651) incentive for each player should they progress to the knock-out stages of the finals.

And where their previous daily allowance amounted to some P100 (US$13), the players requested P500 (US$67) per night.