The Premier Soccer League have announced that Royal AM’s Betway Premiership clash against Orlando Pirates has been cancelled – and all their upcoming games have been suspended until further notice.
The club has been severely impacted after the South African Tax and Revenue Service raided the houses and seized luxury cars of president Shauwn Mhize over an alleged R40 million tax debt.
The club has also been hit by a FIFA transfer ban over the outstanding payment of Samir Nurkovic, who the club owes R15 million in salaries (plus interest).
In addition, the club failed to pay their players and staff in November in December, with MaMkhize stating the club was currently taken over by SARS, which resulted in the cancellation of their fixture against Chippa United.
The PSL have now confirmed that the club failed to provide guarantees that the club will be able to meet their fixture commitments under the current curatorship, and hence suspended all upcoming games.
Full PSL statement below:
- On 9 January 2025 Royal AM FC informed the League that it could not meet its commitments in respect of its match against Chippa United FC on 11 January 2025 due to difficulties arising from the appointment of a Curator.
- The Executive Committee (ExCo) has since convened three separate meetings to establish whether the club, under curatorship, will be able to meet its fixture commitments in a compliant fashion.
- On 17 January 2025 ExCo were assured that a joint letter of comfort (from club management and the Curator) would be provided confirming that the issues that had arisen had been resolved.
- No such letter of comfort has been forthcoming and ExCo has been left with no alternative but to cancel PSL Fixture 106 – Royal AM vs Orlando Pirates Harry Gwala Stadium at 19h30 – and to suspend all other Royal AM fixtures (Betway Premiership and Nedbank Cup) until further notice.