How Kotoko could land Ghana a FIFA ban

The Ghana Football Association has been drawn into the five-year-old player transfer tussle between Kumasi Asante Kotoko and Tunisian giants Esperance.

FIFA on April 9 announced its final judgment on Kotoko’s wrongful signing of striker Emmanuel Clottey, imposing a $240,000 fine on the club.

Media reports on the verdict suggested that Kotoko were going to be eliminated from the Ghana Premier League should they fail to honour the $240,000 fine demanded of them.

But as earlier reported by this site, the punishment for Kotoko for if they are unable to pay the fine is a transfer ban and not a demotion as widely speculated.

“If payment is not made to the Creditor and proof of such a payment is not provided to the secretariat to the FIFA Disciplinary Committee and to the Ghana Football Association by this deadline:

a) a ban from registering new players, either nationally or internationally, will be imposed on Debtor II. Once the deadline has expired, the transfer ban will be implemented automatically at national and international level by the Ghana Football Association and FIFA respectively, without a further formal decision having to be taken nor any order to be issued by the FIFA Disciplinary Committee or its secretariat. The transfer ban shall cover all men eleven-a-side teams of the Debtor – first team and youth categories –. Debtor II shall be able to register new players, either nationally or internationally, only upon the payment to the Creditor of the total outstanding amount. In particular, Debtor II may not make use of the exception and the provisional measures stipulated in article 6 of the Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players in order to register players at an earlier stage.

b) the Creditor may demand, in writing to the secretariat of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee, that the matter be resubmitted to the FIFA Disciplinary Committee so that a ban on taking part in any kind of football-related activity be imposed on the Debtor I.

Point number six of the ruling enjoins the GFA to impose a transfer ban on Kotoko should they fail to pay the fine before the deadline. It stated that Ghana could be banned from international competitions should the FA fall short of discharging their responsibilities.

“As a member of FIFA, the GFA is reminded of its duty to implement this decision and provide FIFA with proof that the transfer ban has been implemented at national level. If the GFA does not comply with this decision, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee will decide on appropriate sanctions on the member. This can lead to expulsion from FIFA competitions”.