With Royal AM the latest club to hit a brick wall in challenging a FIFA and CAS ruling, the PSL has revealed there's a new dispute mechanism in place, where clubs would no longer have to go through the courts in Switzerland.
Normally, disputes involving foreign players in the PSL are lodged to FIFA by aggrieved parties, as they have better chances of having their cases resolved speedily and orders from the world governing body are sacrosanct, even though they can be appealed at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
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However, most disputes, especially of a contractual nature, are not different to those lodged by South African players, which are resolved via the Dispute Resolution Chamber (DRC).
In a question of whether the DRC has the jurisdiction to rule on foreign player disputes, with the example of the Samir Nurkovic/Royal AM case, which went to FIFA and CAS, PSL legal counsel Michael Murphy has revealed that such cases can be heard and finalized in the South African courts, after FIFA introduced a new dispute mechanism.
"FIFA's status and transfer of players, article 22 describes the kind of disputes that can go directly to FIFA and there are disputes of international dimension. That's there, it comes from the Bosman history," Murphy said on Newzroom Afrika.
"But FIFA has introduced a mechanism where you can apply for upfront accreditation to the Dispute Resolution Chamber [DRC], so it doesn't go there [to FIFA] anymore. That's the route we should follow.
"We have an excellent collective bargaining, SAFPU, the Players Union, which recognizes these dispute resolution mechanisms. We have letters from FIFA saying: 'Wonderful, it's the best mechanism in the world'. What we need is upfront accreditation. We need SAFA support. I know they will give us, SAFPU will support us and all our disputes would be heard here in terms of the South African law," Murphy revealed.
Such a change in how player disputes can be handled and finalized locally can give a boost to the sports law industry in the country.
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"Definitely [it would be boost], it would mean us sports lawyers, especially who work in football, would have more work because we would be dealing with these matters locally," Lesedi Mphahlele, Attorney and Director at Fairbridges Wertheim Becker Attorneys admitted, speaking exclusively to KickOff.com.
In 2018, a matter involving foreign player Tendai Ndoro after Cape Town Spurs (then known as Ajax Cape Town) were docked nine points and automatically relegated after the Zimbabwean played for three clubs in one season, which is against FIFA laws, was heard and finalized in the South African courts.
This was after FIFA refused to hear it twice and reverted it back to be litigated in the country.