A single judge on the FIFA players’ status committee has authorized the Federation of Uganda Football Associations to provisionally register Robert Sentongo and play for URA Football club.
Initially FIFA had directed Ethiopian FA to release Sentongo but declined claiming that the player was still under contract with their affiliate club St George FC.
Part of the ruling by the single judge Mr. Geoff Thompson noted he was eager to emphasize that the present decision regarding the authorization to provisionally register the player for the Ugandan club is a provisional measure and, as such, without prejudice to the substance of the contractual labour dispute between the player and Ethiopian club, which will be dealt with by the Dispute Resolution Chamber (DRC) at a later stage.
In particular, the DRC will have to express itself on the questions of whether a breach of contract was committed by one of the parties, whether with or without just cause, who is to be deemed responsible for such possible breach, as well as on the possible consequences thereof, i.e financial compensation and/or sporting sanctions.
Sentongo is now free to play for URA FC.
