By Sibusiso Masilela
The Eswatini Football Association’s (EFA) decision to report the Supreme Court verdict to FIFA could land Manzini Wanderers in trouble.
The ‘Weslians’ could be banned from the sport for flouting article 54 of the FIFA statutes following their victory in the Supreme Court.
Wanderers were recently declared the premier league team following the Supreme Court’s decision to dismiss the Moneni Pirates and Jimoh Moses appeal against Judge Mumcy Dlamini’s ruling on September 27, 2024.
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Pirates challenged Judge Dlamini’s decision to declare Wanderers a Premier League team.
The two appellants failed to produce High Court records before the Supreme Court leading to the declaration.
This led to the Wanderers remaining a Premier League team despite their prolonged absence in the football fraternity.
According to Article 54 of the FIFA Statutes, the world governing body discourages its members from taking football matters to court.
“Due to the specificity of sports, FIFA generally expects parties to approach football/sports tribunals whenever disputes arise.
Thus, FIFA expressly bars its members (Member associations of FIFA, confederations, clubs, players, coaches, or licensed match agents) from approaching civil courts,” reads the article.
EFA confirmed it had received the ruling through a press statement.
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The organisation further promised to deal with the matter accordingly.
Wanderers Management Committee Chairman Jabulani Dlamini said they were still going to receive updates from the mother body.
“The Eswatini Football Association has not officially informed about their next step following the recent Supreme Court ruling.
I can be in a better position to comment once we receive something official from them ,” he said.
