Football

Sumareh's case to go to Court of Arbitration for Sports

IT may be hard for Pahang FA (PFA) to beat Fifa, but they will try to do it. PFA have decided to take things into 'extra time' by dragging Fifa and Mohamadou Sumareh to the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS).

Earlier, Fifa had ordered PFA to pay their former player, Sumareh US$1.2million (RM4.9million) in salary compensation.

Former Pahang team manager Datuk Suffian Awang said: "I cannot comment further as it is now a legal matter so we will leave it to our lawyers."

Suffian, the Sri Pahang FC chief executive officer, also reminded that the matter is between the PFA and Sumareh, not Sri Pahang FC.

The PFA may also engage a lawyer who is based abroad to look into the case.

Fifa, it is learnt, made the decision after Sumareh lodged a complaint with the world federation over unpaid salaries.

The Gambian-born, who is a naturalised national player, left Pahang in August last year after claiming the club had failed to pay his salary in accordance with his contract.

Sumareh's contract with PFA, it is alleged, stipulated a US$5,000 (RM20,362) increment per annum after his second year with the Elephants.

However, Sumareh claimed that his salary had remained stagnant after joining them in 2017.

After leaving Pahang, he joined Thai side, Police Tero FC, for a short stint last year before returning to Malaysia.

Sumareh is expected to join Super League champions Johor Darul Ta'zim (JDT) for the new season.

Timesport's attempts to reach the winger for comments yesterday were unsuccessful.

FA of Malaysia (FAM) secretary-general Stuart Ramalingam said PFA will have 45 days to settle Sumareh's compensation once the winger has provided his bank details.

"PFA can ask Fifa the grounds for the decision, and they have 10 days from the date of the decision to do so.

"If Fifa do not receive PFA's request, the world body will take note that the FA have agreed to it," said Stuart.

Based on the grounds given by Fifa, PFA could appeal to the CAS.

Failure to settle the compensation could see PFA being slapped with a registration ban for the next transfer window or deduction of league points.

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