Top Burkinabé club side Salitas FC were on the verge of relegation from Burkina Faso’s Fasofoot D1 but the Ouagadougou club escaped with a three-match winning streak to escape the trap door on the final day. The focus on using younger players in a competitive league can lead to any club in the country falling from competing for a title to facing relegation the next season but a former star stepped in to reward the players of Salitas for their efforts to stay up.
Current Bayer Leverkusen and Burkina Faso national team star center back Edmond Tapsoba offered the Salitas players 3 million CFA Francs (about $5,000) for avoiding relegation but increased the amount to 5 million ($8,160) while speaking to the team. The 23-year-old Tapsoba started his career at Salitas when they were still in Burkina Faso’s second tier, playing there until 2015 when he moved to fellow Ouagadougou side US Ouagadougou before making his move to Europe.
