FIFA: Tunisia’s Etoile du Sahel must PAY 1.4M penalty to Al Ahly

Tunisia’s Etoile du Sahel and Ivorian striker Souleymane Coulibaly were ordered by FIFA to pay $1.4 million to Ahly within 45 days or risk facing a raft of sanctions, the Egyptian giants said on Saturday.

Ahly had lodged a fresh complaint with the world governing body last month after Etoile failed to pay the $1.4 million penalty imposed on them and Coulibaly over the player’s acrimonious exit from the Cairo club in the summer of 2017.

Coulibaly, then a key member of Ahly’s squad, abruptly left the club four months after joining them, saying he had received “slave treatment” at the hands of Africa’s most successful side.

However, his claims were never substantiated and he was eventually ordered by FIFA to pay $1.4 million to his former club for breaching a three-and-a-half year deal.

Although Ahly said in October last year that they had reached a financial settlement with Etoile, the Tunisian side, who signed Coulibaly in the summer of 2019, did not reportedly honor the agreement.

Ahly said on Saturday that FIFA’s ruling stipulates that Etoile would be banned from registering any new players for up to three consecutive transfer windows and Coulibaly would be suspended for six months should they fail to pay the fine within 45 days.

Both sanctions will be lifted once Etoile pay the fine, Ahly added. The club also said Etoile would have to pay an additional 15 percent interest.