Cameroon 'refuse to board flight to Brazil'

The Cameroon squad reportedly refused to board their flight to Brazil for the World Cup in an ongoing dispute over their bonuses for the tournament.

French newspaper L'Equipe are reporting that the squad played their recent friendly matches in the hope that the issue of their share of FIFA's bonus money would be resolved before the World Cup began.

But the Cameroonian government's most recent offers have still not proved satisfactory, causing greater and greater disquiet. This week the players refused to take the national flag from the prime minister in their traditional pre-tournament ceremony, forcing coach Volker Finke to step in to avoid too much public embarrassment.

And now it seems that the squad have opted to stay in their hotel rather than heading to the airport, despite supporters urging them to get on the plane.

The latest offer on the table was put forward on Friday, proposing that players would receive six per cent of the FIFA bonus for the first round, 20 per cent for the second round, 30 per cent for quarter-finals, 40 per cent for the semi-finals, and 50 per cent for either the final or the third-place play-off.

This is not the first time the Cameroon squad have had disagreements with the authorities over bonuses - the same thing happened in 2002 when it took days of negotiation to secure mutually satisfactory participation fees, and in 2011 they refused to play against Algeria.