FIFA has handed a transfer ban on promoted French side Lorient for failing to pay Ghanaian lower division club Cheetah FC its part of the transfer amount for midfielder Alhassan Wakaso, according to reports in France.
The newly-promoted Ligue 1 club were supposed to pay the third tier Ghanaian side a part of the transfer fee as solidarity compensation after the transfer of the player.
Cheetah FC initially transferred him to Portuguese side Portimonense who later transfer him to another Portuguese club Rio Ave FC.
Les Merlus signed the Ghana international in 2017 from Rio Ave FC but they defaulted in the statutory payment.
In 2017, Kasoa-based Cheetah FC hired Ghanaian expert Ashford Tettey Oku of Offside Consult who dragged the Brittany-based side to FIFA’s Players Status Committee and then the Disciplinary Committee.
It was not until May 5, 2020 when the Disciplinary Committee gave FC Lorient Bretagne up until June 5, 2020 to pay solidarity plus 5% interest of about € 10, 000 or face immediate and automatic transfer ban.
On Monday, June 8, 2020, Tettey Oku wrote to FIFA and the France Football Federation to trigger the process until they make payment.
If they persist, Offside Consult will move for points deduction/demotion.
A portion of FIFA’s letter sighted by SPORTS WORLD GHANA read: ”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 French Football Association by this deadline, a ban from registering new players, either nationally or internationally, will be imposed on the Debtor. Once the deadline has expired, the transfer ban will be implemented automatically at national and international level by the French 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 –. The Debtor 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, the Debtor 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.
”As a member of FIFA, the French Football Association 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 French Football Association does not comply with this decision, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee will decide on appropriate sanctions on the member. This can lead to an expulsion from FIFA competitions.”
If a player is transferred before the expiry of his contract, any club that has contributed to his education and training shall receive a proportion of the compensation paid to his former club.
