Blow for former Mamelodi Sundowns coach as FIFA slaps PSL club with transfer ban over non-payment of Kaizer Chiefs tormentor

The world football governing body has come down hard on Golden Arrows over their failure to pay Knox Mutizwa the money owed to the forward.

Alongside Thabani Zuke, Mutizwa left Abafana Bes’thende and joined Richards Bay FC at the end of last season. However, Mutizwa escalated his financial dispute with Arrows to FIFA, who have now slapped the club with a transfer sanction.  

According to SABC Sports, Arrows and Mutizwa entered into an agreement to settle the financial dispute; however, the club failed to meet its end of the bargain.   

Arrows' failure to honour obligations in their agreement has forced the Zurich-based body to act against them.

“In this regard, we wish to inform the parties that a ban from registering new players internationally and nationally has been implemented by FIFA on the respondent," reads the FIFA correspondence as per SABC Sports.   

"The registration ban will remain active until the amount due is paid and for a maximum duration of up to three entire and consecutive registration periods." 

When rumours over a collision between Mutizwa and Arrows emerged, head coach Manqoba Mngqithi was coy over the matter.

"For the decisions we take as a team, we will always prefer to keep our dirty linen within the house," the former Mamelodi Sundowns head coach said then.

Abafana Bes’thende signed Mutizwa in 2017 from the defunct Bidvest Wits, and he went on to become a key player for the club. One of the clubs that the Zimbabwean tormented was Kaizer Chiefs, and for that, he was regarded as the Amakhosi tormentor-in-chief.

He scored seven goals against the Soweto giants, making the Naturena outfit one of the teams that suffered in his hands.

Mutizwa was part of the Arrows' team for eight years; across multiple spells, he scored 63 goals in 231 matches.

He is already establishing himself as a key player for Richards Bay, whom he helped reach the semi-finals of the Carling Knockout. They were eliminated at the penultimate stage of the domestic competition by Orlando Pirates. 

As the club ponders over the new crisis at their door, they have only one way to get them out of the current mess: pay Mutizwa or be sanctioned from signing new players until July 2027.  

Meanwhile, Mngqithi is confident of how the club has been performing so far in the season.

“When we started the season, if you’d said we would be in the semi-final of the Carling Knockout, they would have looked at you and said the coach is dreaming,” said Mngqithi, as per iDiski Times.  

“For them to be where we are, we feel very positive. I didn’t anticipate we would be where we are now. My target was to see this team; after 15 matches in the league, I hoped that’s where a lot of things would have gelled," he added.

“For them to have done as good as they have in some of the matches, they deserve credit. The reality is that this was a team that was on the other side of the table last season."

“The strides they have made in such a short period of time should be appreciated.”

Currently, Arrows are ninth with 16 points from 12 matches and will face TS Galaxy in an away league game on November 23.

On December 3, the Durban-based outfit will be up against AmaZulu before coming up against Amakhosi on December 20.