Leopards players threaten to take club bosses to court
Senior AFC Leopards players are considering legal action against the club’s management for alleged breach of contract.
The players, who spoke to Nairobi News on condition their identities are not revealed for fear of reprisal, claim the management has failed to pay their outstanding salaries for the past three months.
“We have exhausted our savings, the landlords are on our case, this situation cannot just continue,” one player told Nairobi News.
A section of the players have even threatened to activate Article 14 of the Fifa regulations on the status and transfer of players 2013, which allows a player to terminate his/her contract with a professional football club, if he/she has not been his/her salary for three consecutive months.
The players say they are encouraged by recent cases including where world governing body Fifa apprehended Congolese side Don Bosco for breaching its contract with Ugandan defender Godfrey Walusimbi.
Leopards Deputy Secretary General Asava Kadima has attributed the delay in payment of salaries to the playing staff to a protracted impasse involving the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), that has forced the latter to freeze the club’s accounts over claims of non compliance of tax regulations.
Kenyan clubs have in the past few seasons failed to pay up players salaries on time due to limited finances owing to reduced investor confidence in football.