The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has rejected Royal AM’s request to overturn their FIFA ban. The KwaZulu-Natal club sought the tribunal’s intervention in their ongoing contractual dispute with striker Samir Nurkovic, following FIFA’s ruling over a year ago that mandated the club to pay the player R12 million.
Nurkovic had his two-year contract with Royal AM terminated prematurely, prompting him to escalate the matter to CAS in Zurich. Unfortunately for Royal AM, this decision marks their second consecutive domestic season without the ability to register new players. The club had hoped for a favorable ruling from CAS after months of attempts to alter the original verdict.
Sources indicate that CAS has dismissed the appeal and reaffirmed the requirement for Royal AM to comply with FIFA’s ruling, which necessitates settling the amount owed to Nurkovic. This ruling further complicates matters for the Premier Soccer League (PSL) club, which recently faced another setback when their DStv Diski Challenge team was expelled from the league.
Due to the ongoing FIFA ban, Royal AM has been unable to sign new players for their reserve league, leaving them short-handed for the 2024/25 season. The PSL was compelled to assess the situation after the team failed to participate in six matches this season, placing them at the bottom of the log table.
On Friday, the PSL Executive Committee released a statement regarding the club’s status: “Royal AM Football Club has been unable to field a team in the 2024/25 DStv Diski Challenge competition due to a FIFA registration ban. After reviewing the facts and representations presented by the club this week, the PSL Executive Committee has resolved to halt Royal AM Football Club’s participation in the 2024/25 DStv Diski Challenge competition.”
With the CAS ruling against them, Royal AM must now settle the payment to Nurkovic to have any chance of registering new players in the future.
