Following a dispute between Orlando Pirates and Monnapule Saleng, KickOff lifts the lid on the rights of the club and what Saleng's future could look like if he continues to abscond.
Saleng has reportedly not been reporting for duty at Pirates, as he has not been in the official squad since 7 December 2024.
He is alleged to have been away from the club's training due to financial grievances with Bucs.
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With Saleng's representatives pursuing legal channels to resolve their dispute with Pirates, this website spoke to a sports lawyer on what the club's rights could, if a player in such a situation signs with another club.
This, under the impression that his contract was ending in June or was influenced to force his current club to terminate his employment so he can gain free agent status.
The question was asked with the premise that such a player's deal is expiring in June but the club has an option, as per reports regarding the 26-year-old's contractual situation.
"That discussion is referred to as inducement by clubs in light of article 17 (4) of FIFA's Regulations On The Status and Transfer of Players (RSTP), that if it was found that there was a team speaking to you and immediately after your conduct and the team decides to release you and quickly you're joining another club, that club will be in the wrong because it is perceived to have induced you to terminate your contract so they can sign you (as a free agent).
"Only a competent tribunal can make a ruling on inducement," Mpho Nkontlha of Nkontlha Attorneys, a commercial and sports law firm, explained.
"If your contract is coming to an end, whether you speak to another club and join it, that club is within its rights to speak to Saleng and Saleng is within his rights to speak to another club. But he should go to training so that disruption is not linked to him wanting to force a move out of the club.
"If they go to any tribunal, they will look at his conduct and say: 'You were unhappy, but your unhappiness went into the contract and that the club had no choice but to terminate because they were paying you and you did not come to training'.
"And even if you go to another club, you owe them because you were still the club's property. Pirates could also sue the club where he could potentially go, if he is offered a contract elsewhere," revealed Nkontlha.
In such a situation as mentioned above, can a player sign a pre-contract with another club, if the current club has an option?
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"If there's an option on your contract, you cannot sign a pre-contract. There's what we call an encumbrance.
"A pre-contract is just a pre-contract, you cannot have two contracts which are valid at the same time.
"A potential club can give you a suspensive contract, which states 'This contract will come into effect on 1 July', but between now and then, it's a dummy contract.
"A pre-contract is convenient when there's no dispute, it's more like a gentleman's agreement. The contract comes into being at the date it is effective. There's no tribunal or court anywhere in the world where they will agree that there are two contracts running simultaneously," Nkontlha, who is also a FIFA-licensed agent, added.