The consequence of the FIFA sanctions on Royal AM have left the troubled DStv Premiership facing the risk of damaging loses stretching to millions of rands.
Royal AM have opted to defy the world governing body's ruling that they pay the pair of Samir Nurkovic and Ricardo Nascimento.
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This has led to FIFA putting to effect a transfer embargo on the club and the effects of that sanction now as clear as daylight with Royal AM having been dragged into the relegation play-offs mud.
Without reinforcements, Royal AM have felt the bite and five defeats in a row have left them as the worst-performing team in the last five games.
Their coach, John Maduka, has had to scramble his way with what he has in-between dealing with other ongoing issues that have been prevalent at the club.
From having had the comfort of a 12-point cushion over second-from-bottom Richards Bay FC, Royal AM are now just two points ahead with two games to spare.
Should they falter any further, then they could get sucked into the play-offs and come up against the second- and third-placed teams in the Motsepe Foundation Championship.
That will leave them at risk of losing their DStv Premiership franchise – which carries a value in the region of R50 million – to being in the First Division, where a status carries the value of about R12 million.
This will come down to a loss of over R35 million, which is more than triple what they were instructed to pay Nurkovic and Nascimento and have the transfer ban lifted.
Royal AM's first three-window transfer ban relating to Nurkovic came into effect on July 3, 2023, while the second three-window ban necessitated by Nascimento was plugged on January 15, 2024.
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Without a solution to the two FIFA cases, Royal AM will still be barred from making signings next season.
The KZN side have chosen to appeal their case against Nurkovic through the time-consuming and expensive Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), while with Nascimento they have changed their legal representatives.
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