AJAX Cape Town and Tendai Ndoro could be given clarity on the striker’s situation on Thursday as the controversial case is set to be resolved by the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Thursday.
International football rules state clearly that a player cannot play for three different teams in one season, especially when their seasons run concurrently.
Ndoro has played for Orlando Pirates and Al Faisaly of Saudi Arabia. He then moved to Ajax, who in turn used him too, although according to the rules he should be ineligible to play considering that their respective seasons align.
The Absa Premiership is played from August-May while the Saudi Professional League, where Al Faisaly play, started this run on 10 August 2017 and concludes on 12 April this year.
The league challenged Ndoro’s fielding, leading to Ajax lodging a complaint that saw them granted a hearing by Judge Roland Sutherland to review the verdict of the arbitrator, who had sided with the league.
Arbitrator Nassim Cassim SC referred the matter to Fifa but the Players’ Status Committee has sent the matter back to “the competent authorities in South Africa”.
If the matter keeps dragging on this could potentially halt the National First Division relegation/promotion play-offs, as the Urban Warriors stand a good chance of having to fight for their PSL survival via the play-offs, should they finish 15th in the Premiership. The play-offs start on 16 May with a clash between the team that finishes 15th in the PSL and the NFD side that finishes second.
