FIFA has come down hard on Hwange Football Club for using Creven Banda without following proper international transfer procedures and fined them 10 000 Swiss francs ($10 655)and earning a reprimand as well, in the process becoming the first Zimbabwean club to be punished by the world football governing body.
FRANKLIN MUDENDA
In a four-page judgment dated September 1 2014, the international football mother body found the club guilty of failing to correctly reflect the transfer of Banda to Motlakatse Power Dynamos Football Club, a Botswana Premier Soccer League club, through the Fifa Transfer Matching System in 2011.
The colliery team was also found guilty of failing to secure a reverse international clearance from the Botswana Football Association after the player failed to make the grade for the Palapye-based team.
“The club Hwange Collieri FC (sic) is ordered to pay a fine to the amount of CHF 10 000. This fine is to be paid within 30 days of receipt of the ruling. Payment can be made either in Swiss francs (CHF) or in US dollars . . .” reads part of the judgment that was delivered through the Zimbabwe Football Association, who in turn forwarded to it to the colliery team.
The world football mother body also said a reprimand is pronounced against the colliery team and the costs and expenses of the proceedings amounting to CHF2 000 are to be met by Hwange.
The four-member disciplinary committee of Messrs Claudio Sulser, Kia Tong Lim, Constant Omari and Aleksander Ceferin met in Zurich, Switzerland, on February 27 2014 and deliberated on the case where Hwange FC pleaded its innocence as it was not aware that the player was registered with the Botswana outfit as the deal had fallen through after Motlakase Power Dynamos could not fulfil its side of the bargain.
The Botswana team in a letter dated June 15 2013 also agreed that the deal between the two teams was “null and void” as they could not agree on some of the terms that were being proffered by the coal mining team. In the letter, Motlakatse Power Dynamos through its chairman, Mangisi Segadimo, also conceded that Banda did not feature in any of the team’s games whether friendly or competitive as he was earlier advised to revert to his Zimbabwean team.
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“The judicial bodies may decide not to communicate the grounds of a decision and instead communicate only the terms of the decision. Any request for the grounds of the decision must be sent in writing to the secretariat of the Fifa Disciplinary Committee, within ten days of receipt of notification of the terms of the decision. Failure to do so will result in the decision becoming final and binding and the party being deemed to have waived its rights to file an appeal (art. 116 par. 1 of the Fifa Disciplinary Code, herein after FDC),” read the judgment signed by deputy secretary to the disciplinary committee, Thomas Hug.
Hwange secretary-general Burzil Dube yesterday said they were going to meet as an executive and map the way forward.
“The executive will soon meet and study the judgment and come up with a position as we also want to get to the bottom of the matter on how this player was cleared by Zifa without our knowledge,” said Dube.
