The players of the national soccer team, the Mambas, will be receiving today, in South Africa, the Pocket Money (allowance), according to assurances from the vice-president of the Mozambican Football Federation (FMF), Gervásio de Jesus.

The national team boycotted training sessions on two days in Johannesburg due to the conditions of the pitch where they were training and the non-payment of the cost allowance, estimated at three thousand dollars for each player.

"It's not the problem that there isn't [money] because the federation won't pay. It's nothing like that. That's a lie. And [the players] know perfectly well that on the 5th, which is today, they will get paid. That's guaranteed. We have [technical] teams that will be there," including FMF President Feizal Sidat.

The official explained that the amount to pay the players already existed, but that there had been delays in the process. He was thus trying to repair the media perception of the December 31 boycott, referring to it as a "one-off complaint".

"There was an agreement. We deal with matters on the basis of dialog. There are no strikes or demands. I think there should be a little more patience because it's a problem of delayed disbursement. There is a process. The federation doesn't just walk out of here with a bag of a hundred thousand dollars in hand. There are financial system procedures that have to be observed, otherwise the federation itself would be incurring a criminal situation," he explained.

He was speaking in an interview with Radio MozambiqueToday, in Maputo, he said that the current FMF management has no debts to the players, including in terms of awards, which have "improved a lot".

"I understand the impatience of the players themselves, because of Pocket Money, because it was the eve of the holidays. But it was just a question of being patient," he said.

The vice-president revealed that the FMF worked with reduced budgets to ensure qualification for CAN 2024, while acknowledging that the country's financial situation is going from bad to worse.

Gervásio de Jesus said that efforts were being made with civil society partners and with the involvement of the government to ensure that the national team could take part in the CAN in a dignified manner.

He guaranteed that all the conditions are already in place for the Mambas to take part in CAN 2024, starting with the pre-stage in Johannesburg, South Africa.

"The overall cost of this campaign for CAN is approximately one million dollars, which is not easy to find on the Mozambican market. There is a direct contribution from some partners who are taking on the responsibility of paying for certain items in the spreadsheet for our participation in CAN. All this support is welcome," he said.

The Mambas already played their first assessment match on Wednesday (03.01) against Jomo Cosmos of South Africa, winning 6-1. The Mozambican team will play two more games, against Lesotho (Saturday, 06.01) and Botswana (Monday, 08.01), before leaving for the CAN 2024 stage on Tuesday, 09 January.

This year's CAN will take place in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, between January 13 and February 11. Mozambique will face Egypt, Ghana and Cape Verde in group 'B'.

The FMF official acknowledged that Mozambique has the least favorite team in the group, but stressed that the commitment is to change the paradigm.

The FMF says that the decision to broadcast the Mambas' matches depends on Televisão de Moçambique. In a letter from the broadcaster to the Ministry of Economy and Finance, which the MZNews had access to, TVM is asking for financial support of 400,000 dollars to broadcast the national team's matches.