Serbian striker Samir Nurkovic's legal representative has provided an update on the player's ongoing FIFA case against Royal AM with the two parties set for a courtroom showdown.
According to Nurkovic's lawyer Davor Lazic, who is based in Croatia, Royal AM are bizarrely claiming the former Kaizer Chiefs striker was never a contracted player while failing to make an appearance for the club.
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Nurkovic has has filed a grievance against Royal AM with world football body FIFA for an alleged breach of contract.
"As the opposing party, Royal AM responded through FIFA while we have also been given a deadline of this week to file our comments to their latest correspondence," Lazic tells KickOff.
"What they [Royal AM] are claiming is that the contract was never ratified because Samir never appeared for the club which basically means they never saw him there.
"I'm not sure how they will defend that line of argument, but it will be interesting to see how it goes. Because on the other hand, they at first provided him with a 30-day sick leave before then terminating his contract because he was injured.
"If there was no contract to ratify then there was nothing to terminate, and no reason to give him a 30-day leave period.
"Samir signed a contract, was presented as their player, trained with them, and played in the Macufe Cup.
"We are going to respond to their [Royal AM] correspondence to our claim and then wait to hear from FIFA which should happen before the end of January.
"With our response to FIFA there shouldn't be any further correspondence and it is going to be up to FIFA to make a final decision."
Lazic also clarified why the impending case is being heard by FIFA instead of the PSL Disciplinary Committee which was the preferred body that Royal AM wanted the case to be heard.
"We have made our submissions to FIFA because Samir is a Serbian national who was with a South African club and therefore it takes the international route which is the FIFA dispute resolution.
"This case may bring unnecessary reputational damage to the club and could have been avoided, but they never wanted to communicate and never paid anything to him.
"This might also be good for other players to also learn to fight for their rights in these circumstances," Lazic added.
Nurkovic signed for Royal AM in May in a deal that came to effect on July 1 immediately after the expiry of his previous contract at Chiefs where he spent a three-year spell.
Following failure by the club to meet the contractual agreements, the 30-year-old took the club to FIFA on November 7.
Royal AM have chosen to withhold commenting on the matter but did send a letter of termination with a month's notice to the player on September 23.
Nurkovic last played in an official fixture while at Chiefs against Mamelodi Sundowns back in May.
Recently, fellow DStv Premiership side Marumo Gallants were forced to pay Kenyan international Ovella Ochieng over half a million rand after he filed a grievance to FIFA for breach of contract.
Cameroon goalkeeper Patrick Tignyemb also recently received R3 million after also laying a complaint against Bloemfontein Celtic to the world governing body for another unfair dismissal case.
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