Samir Nurkovic’s lawyer Davor Lazic is disappointed with treatment the former Kaizer Chiefs striker has received at Royal AM, and confirmed his contract dispute is now with FIFA.
Lazic says Royal AM are playing dirty tricks, as they are claiming that there’s no contract that was signed between themselves and the player, when in fact it was.
While Royal AM are also changing the story, Lazic questions how can Royal AM at first want to terminate the contract and hand the player a settlement when there was no contract?
The matter is now in the hands of FIFA’s Dispute Resolution Chamber, who will rule sometime in January next year, as first reported by SABC Sport.
Nurkovic joined Royal AM at the beginning of the season after leaving Kaizer Chiefs at the end of last term, officially signing a contract on 1 July.
However, he arrived in the team carrying an injury and then aggravated it at training, which infuriated Royal AM’s bosses.
Nurkovic looked to have recovered and played a friendly match for Royal AM against Chiefs in the Macufe Cup, lasting for 71 minutes before he was taken off in September during the FIFA break.
He looked fit on that occasion – bulldozing defenders, showing his trademark game of hold-up play and constantly clashing with opponents but that was it with the KwaZulu-Natal club.
“After that game in the Macufe Cup, he was sidelined and now we are facing a different version of the story, stating that there was no contract signed even though the guy was training day by day,” Lazic told iDiski Times.
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“The fact is, he signed a contract and I’m not sure why they are going in this direction. But it will be shown and proved during the proceedings of FIFA and the matter can also go to CAS (sports law in Switzerland), if we are not happy.
“But Royal AM terminated the contract because they said he is injured and now they are telling us there was no contract whatsoever. In my view, that is bizarre but we will see because the case is going on and pending.
“But from my side, I do have a contract that was signed with Royal AM. But because he was injured, they said they will terminate the contract within 30 days. If there was no contract, there was nothing to terminate.”
On top of that, since Nurkovic was signed by Royal AM, he was never paid for three months- July, August and September.
“It’s hard,” said Lazic, when asked how Nurkovic is surviving without being paid.
“Because, like any other person, he is supposed to be paid. In the case the football players are not paid for at least over two months, they have a right to terminate the contract according to FIFA law.
“We sent the letter to the club after two or three months lapse, stating that they should pay him in the next 15 days and they responded to that letter by stating that they won’t pay because he’s injured and basically they will terminate the contract. This was done at the end of September.”
As it has been proven this within the clubs in the PSL, they don’t win these cases and FIFA take players’ welfare very vigorously.
Story by Robin-Duke Madlala (@duke_robin).
