Exclusive: FIFA slap Richards Bay with transfer ban

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According to their investigation, the organisation has concluded that the DStv Premiership side failed to honour their financial obligations towards Kenyan international Ovella Ochieng despite a mutual agreement to do so.

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The two parties went their separate ways last season and at the time the winger had made eight league appearances for the club under then coach Vasili Manousakis, with Ochieng’s final game in April 2023.

As expected, the player resorted to FIFA to get what he was due and the governing body’s hard and fast rule in such cases and when there’s failure by the club to pay the next step is to impose a transfer ban.

SABC Sport can confirm that FIFA have updated their records to sanction Richards Bay by not allowing them to register new players internationally and have since also written to their member federation in the South African Football Association [SAFA] to do the same from a local level as well.

The KwaZulu-Natal outfit, currently fighting for survival in the topflight with seven matches to go to avoid relegation, now join Royal AM on the list of Premier Soccer League [PSL] clubs banned by FIFA.

Having still not paid striker Samir Nurkovic and defender Ricardo Nascimento, the side owned by businesswoman Shawn Mkhize are yet to have their sanction lifted and this dates back as far as June last year.

Two more PSL teams have recently had their bans lifted by FIFA after both Polokwane City and Chippa United paid settlements with former international players who had taken their matters to Zurich.

According to information gathered by the public broadcaster, 24-year-old Ochieng, who has several caps for Kenya, is currently unattached.