Royal AM have confirmed that the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has suspended the transfer ban handed out by FIFA over the case against the club lodged by former player Samir Nurkovic.
The KwaZulu-Natal side signed Nurkovic after his contract with Kaizer Chiefs came to end, showing their improved ambitions after qualifying for the CAF Confederations Cup following an impressive debut campaign after they purchased the status of Bloemfontein Celtic.
However, things between Nurkovic and Royal AM never worked out, as the striker never made an official appearance for the club, with the player’s lawyer Davor Lazic lodging an official case with FIFA, alleging Royal AM failed to honour the player’s contract after dismissing him in October without paying him his salary.
The situation ended up at the FIFA Disciplinary Committee, who have ruled in Nurkovic’s favour and slapped the club with a transfer ban, as reported by SABC Sport.
Royal AM lawyer Leruma Thobejane, though, had told this publication there are certain discrepancies in the case. Hence he has taken it to CAS – the highest court in sport, which has immediately suspended the transfer ban on 11 July (because rules state there cannot be a ban while the case is still being assessed by CAS), as confirmed in a press release sent to iDiski Times.
“CAS NOTIFICATION: SUSPENSION OF ROYAL AM FC TRANSFER BAN / SAMIR NURKOVIC / FIFA
“1. On Tuesday the 11th July 2023, CAS notified Royal AM FC, Samir Nurkovic and FIFA that CAS has initiated arbitration appeal proceedings lodged by Royal AM FC against decisions rendered by FIFA.
“2. Royal AM FC confirm that the appeal was submitted to CAS simultaneously with an application for urgent provisional, preliminary and conservatory relief against the transfer ban.
“3. Royal AM FC confirm that CAS advised the parties in the same correspondence received and notified to all parties on Tuesday the 11th July 2023, that the transfer ban was automatically uplifted/suspended immediately upon CAS` admission of Royal AM FC`s appeal against the decisions rendered by FIFA.
“4. In line with protocol, Royal AM FC has referred the correspondence received from CAS to NSL/the league for verification and implementation.“
With the ban being lifted until a final decision is made by the Swiss-based court of appeal, the club can sign and register players until that final ruling comes.
A similar scenario happened to FC Barcelona in 2014. They quickly went to buy Luis Suarez, Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Thomas Vermeulen, Jeremy Mathieu, Ivan Rakitic and Claudio Bravo, while their transfer ban was suspended by CAS. Their appeal, though, later got rejected by CAS and they were then banned from signing players for two transfer windows.
