FCB Nyasa Bullets have played down the delay to act on their player registration ban issued by Fifa as the next transfer window approaches. The world football governing body, through its dispute resolution chamber, ordered the People’s Tem to compensate their former Zimbabwean attacker Ronald Chitiyo $15 200 (about K26.6 million) last June for breach of contract. Bullets had their appeal against the determination thrown out last September and the club now faces a race against time in the countdown to the upcoming transfer window.
The drawback is that even if the club pays the fine, the lifting of the ban is not automatic as Fifa has to review the case which takes a bit of time, according to international players’ agent Felix Ngamanya Sapao. Fifa rules stipulate that “paying a fine is a required step to begin the process of having the ban lifted”. But in an interview yesterday, the club’s acting chief executive officer Albert Chigoga insisted that they are on top of things.
He said: “There are no two ways about paying the Chitiyo compensation. We will sort this out once and for all and soonest. “This will not be done because of transfers.
[paywall]
We will do it because our club is compliant.” Chigoga assured the team’s supporters that they are keen to sort out the issue. In an interview yesterday, Footballers Union of Zimbabwe president Desmond Maringwa said the ball is in Bullets’ court. “The compensation has not been paid up to this day and we will just have to wait,” he said.
In September, Chigoga said they had an option to appeal the ruling to Court Arbitration of Sport as guided by Fifa, “but considering the hefty appeal fee, we engaged the player to pursue an out of court settlement, which he [Chitiyo] turned down”. Said Chigoga: “The player signed a performance-based contract with Bullets, but his performance fell short of our expectations in line with the contract. “Then, we released the player on mutual consent, but when he returned to Zimbabwe, he opted to sue us and Fifa made its determination without hearing the side of Bullets.”
[/paywall]
