How Royal AM lost Samir Nurkovic's FIFA case

The public broadcaster's sports desk reported last year that the Premier Soccer League outfit owned by businesswoman Shauwn Mkhize had bizarrely given Nurkovic a 30-day notice to leave the club. 

Following his move to Durban as a free agent, having left Amakhosi at the end of his contract, the Serbian was unveiled by Royal AM in their usual glitz and glamour style on social media. 

But three months later – having failed to pay his wages – they wanted him out and instructed their legal team to terminate a two-year contract. 

Nurkovic asked his own attorney to take the matter directly to FIFA for a settlement – being eligible to do so as a foreign-based player, and the world governing body last month ruled the club has until June 19 to pay the amount in full or risk a sanction. 

“The arguments, in my opinion, were weak. It basically went from the fact that he came in June to the club and got injured while training. But in the end they actually changed it – and it went beyond my imagination how they moved to that sort of argument,” Lazic explained. 

“Royal AM stated that Samir was never at the club until 16 September, which is when they tried to terminate his contract. They did not mention that he played the Macufe Cup match [same month].

"He was there, it was all over the media and even the club’s Instagram account – there were pictures of him in training, participating and even when he signed the contract. But they were adamant he was never there."

Given this was not the first time Lazic had encountered such a case, although not unique in its own way, his strategy was fairly straightforward. 

“One of the key [pieces of] evidence we put forward is the YouTube link where you could see the entire [Macufe Cup] match,” the attorney added. 

"We submitted all the pictures from the official sources of the club – from the web page and Instagram of the club. You could see it because they published it themselves, but they turnaround with a funny argument to say Samir was never there.

“All this was taken into account and proved to not be true, declined by FIFA and the tribunal ruled in favour of the player.” 

Lazic also confirmed that Royal AM, who must now settled the entire agreement of the two-year deal, were yet to conduct him. 

“But I expect them to follow the rules because the consequences will be severe, including a possible transfer ban or worse,” he said.