Royal AM find themselves caught up between a rock and a hard place in seeking a solution to the line of crisis that have now left them stuck with FIFA imposed transfer bans.
As is already known Royal AM are sitting with a sanction of not being able to make any new signings due to issues related to Samir Nurkovic and Ricardo Nascimento.
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The KwaZulu-Natal club has other outstanding similar issues from the time when they were playing in the Motsepe Foundation Championship as Royal Eagles (that status was subsequently sold).
Nurkovic's case which the 31-year-old striker won at FIFA has since been pushed up to the Court of Arbitration for Sport by Royal AM.
However, the matter is hanging with the steep CAS appeal fees not settled by the club yet despite having had a deadline of December 18 to make all payments.
CAS has yet to confirm that the appeal fees have reflected in their accounts in Zurich, Switzerland despite claims by Royal AM that they have made all due payments.
This then explains why no case number has been allocated.
CAS lists all confirmed upcoming hearings on their website, and nothing shows for Royal AM vs Nurkovic.
If confirmation is made that due payment has not gone through as per the prescribed date, then their appeal will no longer be heard at CAS thus exhausting all appeal channels for Royal AM.
From there if Royal AM still choose not to pay then the process to garnish their monthly grant from the PSL will be put into effect like was the case with Patrick Tignyemb in his case against Bloemfontein Celtic two years ago.
Nurkovic is now owed more than R10 million – which is the value of the contract that he signed when agreeing to join Royal AM.
"What I can certainly confirm is that the registration ban is still on, and it will be on until the moment my client, Mr. Samir Nurkovic, is fully paid.
"And that information can easily be checked by everyone via a new FIFA's digital tool that publicly lists the clubs subject to registration bans.
"Clubs subject to registration bans are prevented from registering new players.
"Namely, based on FIFA's legal framework, a registration ban is one of the potential disciplinary measures that may be imposed on clubs by the FIFA judicial bodies or by the Football Tribunal.
"Once a registration ban has been imposed, the club in question is prevented from registering new players, either nationally or internationally and whether as amateurs or as professionals, for the full duration of the sanction.
"The club will therefore only be able to register new players again after serving the ban in its entirety or if the ban is lifted by the FIFA administration," says Davor Lazic, Nurkovic's legal representative based in Croatia.
Royal AM is listed as serving a three window ban with regards to this matter whose FIFA ruling stretches back to July 2023 when Nurkovic won the case that he had taken to the global mother body after failed attempts to reach a settlement with Royal AM.
Royal AM also have another case that they have lost at FIFA against Brazilian defender Ricardo Nascimento.
Having now failed to make payment to Nascimento, this has necessitated the implementation of another transfer ban.
Nascimento must be paid an amount in the region of R620 000 (considering the 5% per annum interest employed by FIFA in such cases).
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The original claim which Royal AM have chosen not to pay is R600 000.
The latest transfer ban came into effect on Monday (January 15).