AmaZulu FC could be one of the teams following the Royal AM-Samir Nurkovic case closely, on two fronts, having experienced the wrath of the FIFA DC in 2018 and could now benefit, should such sanctions befall their KZN rivals.
Royal AM have been adamant they do not owe Nurkovic a cent, after challenging the FIFA ruling that stated they breached an employment contract with the Serbian and ordered them to pay him monies believed to be around R12 million, despite the player having not kicked a ball for the club officially.
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The club's challenge was presented before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and after an initial ruling upheld FIFA's order, which came with a transfer ban, they went for appeal, which also went against them recently.
Although KickOff earlier indicated that the matter could now lie with PSL DC, with regards to handing out sanctions should the Durban side not adhere to the CAS ruling, PSL legal counsel Michael Murphy has clarified that it is the FIFA DC that will take action, should Royal AM not settle monies owed to the marksman.
"It's at a FIFA level, there's a remedy that has been handed down if there's no payment. It will be referred to the FIFA Disciplinary Committee and in terms of the FIFA DC. It has happened before to South African clubs or clubs around the world," Murphy said on Newzroom Afrika.
"They [FIFA DC] could order an expulsion or deduction of points and if they do, we [PSL] have to implement it."
In 2018, the FIFA DC ordered a deduction of six points from AmaZulu after they ignored an order from CAS to pay Namibian Phinheas Nambandi just over R1 million in compensation for breach of contract.
Crucially, they were ordered to pay him within 30 days of the CAS order, failure of which resulted in the points deduction put into effect by the PSL, which was the first sanction by the FIFA DC after the CAS ruling.
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Usuthu faced relegation or expulsion, if they did not pay Nambandi, with the axe wielded by the FIFA DC, which they eventually did and finished that season (2018/19) in 11th place despite the six points deduction, which at the time plunged them to the bottom of the table.
The KZN side find themselves without points and at the bottom of the log currently, alongside TS Galaxy, and a deduction of points for Royal AM could give both clubs a big boost in a bid to get out of the drop zone.