Nurkovic's attorney asks PSL to help settle R15m Royal AM debt

Speaking exclusively to SABC Sport following the recent ruling from the Court of Arbitration for Sport [CAS] dismissing Royal AM’s appeal to have their FIFA transfer ban overturned, Davor Lazic confirmed his plea to the league.

“They [Royal AM] need to pay the legal fees and of course the costs of the arbitration at CAS and they need to pay the main amount together with the interest, which is at five percent at this moment,” the attorney explained.

According to the document which has the ruling from the tribunal, the official figure Royal AM owe Nurkovic is R15-million, now with added interest.

Lazic confirmed the player’s camp had approached the PSL and SAFA to step in by issuing a garnishee order on the grant.

“What we asked, and this is according to their own rules, is to deduct from the money payable to the club. As you know, by virtue of agreeing to being a member of the PSL, it means the club authorised the league to deduct this money. All we are asking is for the league to follow its own rules and give this money to the player.”

If the PSL were to go ahead with this from now until the end of the season in June, the money paid to Nurkovic would be R14-million.

Royal AM also face the possibility of being docked points by FIFA, a scenario which has played out before in 2018 when the PSL punished AmaZulu for ignoring a CAS ruling on the unlawful termination of Namibian player Phinheas Nambandi’s contract.

Usuthu were docked six points for delaying payment since the case was first heard by FIFA in 2014.

“We can also ask for further bans, which can be a deduction of points and relegation to the lower division. There are various other sanctions that can still be applicable on top of the transfer ban. But at this stage it would be advisable to the league and the club not to follow this pattern as it would have affect the league standings and a lot of other matches already played. It’s best to pay the player,” added Lazic.

Royal AM have still not made any public statements since the CAS ruling, while the PSL did suspend the club’s DStv Diski Challenge team from the reserve league after the KwaZulu-Natal outfit could not honour fixtures.

This was due to a shortage of players because of the FIFA ban.