Royal AM's appeal process has reached a dead end after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) upheld FIFA's DRC ruling in the matter relating to Samir Nurkovic.
Nurkovic has fought a breach of employment agreement without just cause case against Royal AM since first filing his claim on November 8, 2022.
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According to the 21-page arbitral award by CAS in the hands of KickOff, Royal AM's appeal has been classified as inadmissible with all other and further motions and prayers for relief dismissed.
The document details the arbitration case which has Royal AM as the appellant and represented by 'Mr. Leruma Emmanuel Thobejane, Attorney-at-Law, Botha Massyn Thobejane Associated Attorneys, Kempton Park, South Africa'.
Cited as first respondent is Mr. Samir Nurkovic, represented by Mr. Davor Lazic, Attorney-at-Law, Davor Lazic Attorneys, Zagreb, Croatia with Fédération International de Football Association (FIFA), Zurich, Switzerland and represented by Mr. Alexander Jacobs, FIFA Senior Legal Counsel as the second respondent.
Contained in the award is information relating to the financial agreements and length of contract between Nurkovic and Royal AM, for which he was only ever paid once on November 11, 2022, which was three days after he lodged a claim for the full duration of the contract.
On April 27, 2023, the Serbian's claim was partially accepted by the FIFA DRC for an amount totalling R9,9 million with 5% interest per annum.
The original claim was R15,8 million.
Then on July 3, 2023, and considering Royal AM's failure to comply with the Appealed Decision, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee imposed a transfer ban on the club, which remains effective to this day.
Royal AM then filed an appeal against Nurkovic and FIFA with CAS, which has since been classified as inadmissible with all other and further motions and prayers for relief dismissed.
Sofoklis Pilavios was the President of the Panel with Luigi Fumagalli and Emily Wisnosky as the Arbitrators who ruled by majority that:
"1. The appeal filed on 5 July 2023 by Royal AM FC against the decision issued on 3 May 2023 by the FIFA Football Tribunal Dispute Resolution Chamber of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association is inadmissible.
"2. The costs of the arbitration, to be determined and served to the parties by the CAS Court Office, shall be entirely borne by Royal AM FC.
"3. Royal AM FC shall bear its own costs and is ordered to pay to Mr. Samir Nurkovic the amount of CHF 4,000 (four thousand Swiss Francs) as a contribution towards his legal fees and other expenses incurred in connection with these arbitration proceedings. FIFA shall bear its own expenses.
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"4. All other and further motions or prayers for relief are dismissed," reads the ruling from Lausanne, Switzerland.
This then leaves the KZN club with a heavy bill, of which at least approximately R10,8 million is due to Nurkovic before the cost of arbitration to be determined by the CAS Court Office, plus other costs.