Royal AM have taken yet another forward step in upscaling their appeal to CAS in the matter relating to their unfair dismissal case with Samir Nurkovic.
The KwaZulu-Natal club remain sitting on a preliminary sanction of being banned from signing new players.
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That transfer ban order came into effect in June after FIFA after Nurkovic won the case that he had taken to the global mother body after failed attempts to reach a settlement with Royal AM.
With the transfer ban, Royal AM have not been able to bring in new players and the effects of this have shown in their struggles as they remain third from bottom on the standing.
In their response, Royal AM have taken up their appeal to CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport with their argument based on the substance of the matter.
With the CAS route, Royal AM must satisfy the apeal processes which includes a fee of a total of CHF 42 000 (approx. R900 000).
The payment of that amount has a due date that is nearing before Christmas and Royal AM have already made a part payment commitment indicating their desire to proceed with the appeal at CAS.
If payment is not made at the due date, then their appeal will no longer be heard at CAS thus exhausting all appeal channels for Royal AM and making the FIFA ruling that was won by Nurkovic final and binding.
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.
Tignyemb's money came from the PSL after Celtic went for months without settling the R3 million payment as per the FIFA ruling.
There is also an option to have Royal AM docked points which will lead to relegation to the lower divisions dropping their franchise value by 80%.
Royal AM are already struggling in the DStv Premiership sitting third from bottom.
On the other end, if Royal AM meets the appeal processes, then there will be a hearing in the New Year at CAS.
Provided the CAS decision is to uphold the FIFA ruling then Royal AM will be ordered to pay more than R10 million within 21 days.
A standard international sports law interest fee of 5% per annum will be incorporated on the initial amount that FIFA stipulated in their ruling back in June.
There are other costs related to court office fee plus the arbitrator fees related to taking an appeal to CAS.
The arbitration costs of CHF 6750 (approx. R140 000) plus 0,60% of the amount under dispute which is now more than R10 million (plus 5% interest per annum) will have to be settled.
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As it stands, there is no case number and date from CAS relating to this matter.
After spending 17 months without playing competitive football, Nurkovic has three goals in nine appearances at TS Galaxy.