FALSE: Photo does not show the drought situation in Embolioi, Kajiado County, in October 2022
Admin Sofapaka chairman Elly Kalekwa has voiced displeasure with FIFA, football’s world governing body after reports have emerged that striker John Avire made his debut for Tanta fc in Egypt on Wednesday.
Speaking via social media on Thursday, Kalekwa through a press release showed his displeasure.
“The club is protesting a decision made by Fifa, through a single judge seating in the Players’ Status Committee, Mr. Geoffrey Thompson that Avire who has been illegally training with Egyptian league side Tanta FC, be given a provisional International Transfer Certificate (ITC) to enable the player feature for the Egyptian side as the matter continues to be investigated by the World football governing body.”
Read the release adding that though they considered the player’s welfare and not the club It’s good to note that Avire is still a Sofapaka player and has a running contract that expires in December 2020.
According to Sofapaka fc, the club’s fraternity feel’s cheated and robbed since the directive is going against Fifa statutes, because it means therefore John Avire has two contracts with two different clubs.
Sofapaka Fc also goes ahead to state that it has written to Football Kenya Federation (FKF) and Fifa protesting the decision because the player has a valid contract with ‘Batoto ba Mungu” and questioned incase he gets injured while playing for Tanta FC during the provisional period ,they may as well chase him yet there’s no binding agreement between Sofapaka and Tanta FC.
In defence, FKF’s competitions manager Frank Ogolla also issued a statement, “ FKF haven’t issued the International Transfer Certificate (ITC) yet , but its within FIFA’s provisional powers to allow for provisional registration and they did just that after in their wisdom, they felt that barring the player would be to disadvantage him since the two clubs had shown willingness to engage,” read the statement from Ogolla.
Kenyan international John Avire made his debut for Egyptian side Tanta SC on Wednesday evening as the club played to a barren draw with Wadi Degla at the Tanta Stadium.
Avire signed for the club mid last year in a move that stirred controversy with his parent club Sofapaka revealing they were not involved despite the player being under contract with the Kenyan Premier League (KPL) side.
Now all eyes are on FIFA and Sofapaka’s chairman Elly Kalekwa as the football world awaits to see on how the saga will be resolved.
