Co-hosts of the 2012 Africa Nations Cup Equatorial Guinea will be one million US dollars richer if they beat Libya in their opening match Saturday.
Agriculture and forestry minister of oil-rich Equatorial Guinea who is also a brother of the country�s President, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, made the hefty cash promise and this was conveyed by the country�s football federation, FEGUIFOOT.
There is also a 10 million CFA Franc (about $20,000) reward for each goal scored by Nzalang against Libya in Bata on Saturday.
The minister visited the players in their camp on Monday to make these promises.
Football fever has swept through the island so much so that the players were feted as heroes when they arrived in Bata to finalise their build-up for the competition. Equatorial Guinea are the lowest ranked team in this tournament, but qualified for the tournament automatically by virtue of being joint hosts with Gabon.
This will also be their first-ever appearance at the Nations Cup finals. Their build-up to the tournament suffered a massive blow when experienced French coach Henri Michel quit less than three weeks to the big kick-off.
He has since been replaced by a Brazilian, Gilson Paulo.
They drew 1-1 with 10-man South Africa in a recent warm-up game.
Zambia and Senegal are the other teams in Group A.
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