FCB Nyasa Big Bullets president Konrad Buckle has released K29 million towards the club’s former Zimbabwean attacker Ronald Chitiyo’s compensation for breach of contract.
The move is the first step towards having the People’s Team’s player registration ban lifted by wirld football governing body Fifa.
On September 17 last year, Fifa banned Bullets from registering players after failing to pay Chitiyo $15 200 (about K26.6 million) within 45 days.
But a source confided in The Nation on Monday that Buckle, who also chairs the club’s board, released the funds last week.
“He [Buckle] released K29 million, including processing charges and the club started the payment process today [Monday],” said the source.
“By Wednesday [today], Chitiyo should receive the money.”
In an interview yesterday, Bullets acting chief executive officer Albert Chigoga confirmed having commenced the payment process.
He said: “We have embarked on the process to pay. Once this is completed, we will issue a club statement if necessary to do so.”
Chitiyo’s representative Desmond Maringwa, who is Footballers Union of Zimbabwe president, yesterday said he needed to check if the payment has been processed.
Meanwhile, while there were fears that Bullets could serve a ban spanning the three full registration windows even after issuing the payment. Knowledgefifa.com clarifies that ban on the club will be lifted once they issue the payment.
It reads: “They do not have to serve the full three registration windows.
“The club is still listed on the bans page, indicating the debt has not yet been settled and the ban remains active. Payment would prompt Fifa to lift it early, without serving the full three windows.”
“Nyasa Big Bullets is not listed on the Fifa registration bans page with an “until lifted” status because their ban is described with a fixed maximum duration of three registration periods, rather than the indefinite “until lifted” category used for some other clubs.
The September 2025 Fifa decision for Nyasa Big Bullets explicitly imposed a ban that remains in effect until the debt to Ronald Chitiyo is paid.”
In September last year, Chigoga said they engaged Chitiyo for an out of court settlement which the player turned down.
He said the player signed a performance-based contract, “but his performance fell short of our expectations in line with the contract”.
“Then we released the player on mutual consent, but when he returned to Zimbabwe, he opted to sue us and Fifa made the determination without hearing Bullets’ side,” said Chigoga then.
