Lusaka Dynamos banned for failing to pay Sailesi K95m
Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) has banned Lusaka Dynamos from playing in the Zambia Premier League for failing to comply with a Fifa verdict to pay Malawian player Daliso Sailesi K95 million for breach of contract.
In 2019, Fifa dispute resolution chamber ordered the club to compensate Sailesi.
However, Lusaka Daynamos appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sports, an international quasi-judicial body established to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration.
Despite losing the appeal, the club is yet to pay Sailesi his dues.
Zambia FA yesterday said in a statement signed by its communication officer Sydney Mungala that Lusaka Dynamos will not be awarded a licence to participate in the top flight league until it pays Sailesi and other players it owes.
Reads the statement in part: “We have noticed with great concern that by all indications that the club does not meet basic requirements to obtain a licence to participate in the forthcoming 2022/23 season.
“They [Dynamos] are also under several transfer bans with Fifa for unpaid dues and have several cases pending with the Fifa player status committee.”
The player’s representative Felix Ngamanya Sapao confirmed that the Zambian club is yet to pay Sailesi.
He, however, said they are considering how they can ensure the player gets his money.
Sapao said: “We know what we have to do to get paid and we will. I cannot say much, but all is in process as we wait for this transfer window to close in Zambia [August 31]. We then will do what we are supposed to do.”
One of the options is to ask Fifa to compensate the player through a fund established to ensure players receive part of their outstanding salaries when clubs fail to honour their obligations.
Sailesi was spotted by several Zambian clubs at the 2017 Cosafa Castle Cup in South Africa, but Dynamos convinced him to sign for them.
The midfielder signed for Lusaka Dynamos in 2017 at K22 million with Bullets getting K17 million while the player’s signing-on fee was K6 million. The club never paid the fees.
He was expected to receive an equivalent of K1.4 million per month.
However, the club also failed to fulfil the deal, prompting the player to take the matter with Fifa.
The versatile winger returned to Bullets in 2019, but he has struggled to regain his form at the club.
He was eventually offloaded at the beginning of the season and is now with TNM Super League side Mighty Wakawaka Tigers.
