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DStv Premiership outfit Swallows FC are in hot soup over money owed to two Serbian players – Obren Cuckovic and Vladimir Mandic – who played for the old Moroka Swallows back in the the 2014/2015 campaign.
The world’s governing body Fifa has slapped Swallows FC with a ban from signing players for the next three registration periods.
Despite the fact that the then Moroka Swallows was liquidated, and the current club is a new entity, the matter has resurfaced with the world governing body.
Swallows appealed and took the matter to the highest sports dispute resolution office, the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland, which upheld the ban decision made in February.
Swallows were served with the papers on Thursday, which Sunday World has seen.
“Swallows shall be banned from registering any new players, either nationally or internationally, up until the due amount is paid. The maximum duration of the ban shall be of up to three entire and consecutive registration periods,” reads part of the Fifa statement.
Mandic and Cuckovic were signed in 2014 when Zeca Marques was still the coach. A former Swallows official has revealed that the arrangement was that if the club got relegated to the national first division, then their contracts would be null and void.
Swallows were relegated in 2015. “We got the letter from Fifa and we have some reasons to try but we cannot comment until our legal department has confirmed the position of the club. There are some technicalities that need to be visited. So, we cannot make any official comment right now except to confirm that we received the papers from Fifa … We will then update the public,” Swallows CEO Sipho Xulu said.
Swallows FC chairman David Mogashoa has confidently said the club will successfully overturn a FIFA transfer ban over their failure to settle an outstanding debt and that the matter would be resolved this week.
“This issue has been there for quite a while and we have been dealing with it as a club behind the scenes,” he told SABC Sport.
“But we are not worried. I can assure you that we are on top of it and we will have it resolved, and the FIFA ban lifted by Friday.”
The chairman admitted that it was a problem he had inherited when buying the Swallows status and registering a new trading name, as it later emerged that the Serbian players were owed money from back then.
Mandic is now 35 years old and plays in his native country, while Cuckovic is in his 40s and has since retired from football.
Other South African clubs that have been barred from signing players by Fifa include Chippa United for failure to pay Augustine Kwem’s signing-on fee. Chiefs were also hard hit in 2020 after their controversial signing of Madagascar international Andriamirado “Dax” Andrianarimanana in 2018.
His previous club, Fosa Juniors, had disputed the move and took the matter to Fifa.
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