Polish Prime Minister says no bonuses for footballers in Qatar

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has said that the Polish national football team will not receive any bonuses from the government for advancing from the group stage at the football World Cup in Qatar.

In Qatar, the Polish team made it into the knockout round for the first time since 1986, but had to leave the tournament on Sunday after losing 3 -- 1 to France.

On Tuesday, Morawiecki wrote on Facebook that he believed that rewarding for results at the most prestigious tournaments is an important element of the whole system and at the same time the role of the Polish Football PAP Association and the main sponsors. He added that there would be no government funds for bonuses for football players.

According to Monday's reports from the Wirtualna Polska website, Morawiecki promised the Polish football team players before their departure for the World Cup in Qatar that they would get a bonus of 30 million EUR 6.4 mln if they advanced beyond the group stage.

This information caused a wave of criticism. On Monday, a government spokesman Piotr Mueller said that the prime minister had talked with the president of the Polish Football Association PZPN and the head coach of the football team about the fund for training and infrastructure development and the condition to get out of the group phase.

In his post, Morawiecki wrote that although making it into the knockout round of the Polish national team for the first time in 36 years is a great joy, the state's role is to support the development of football, but this applies primarily to funding for youth training, building infrastructure and support for talented players.

More funds will be allocated for these purposes, according to Morawiecki.