By Kei Emmanuel Duku
Organizing committee for South Sudan Women’s Cup third edition has disqualified Ambayo Immaculate, a player for Yei Joint Stars, for the rest of the remaining fixtures.
According to the committee, a petition was raised by Bentiu City SC on Tuesday following their 5:0 defeat to Yei Joint Stars on Monday evening, in the ongoing South Sudan women’s Cup played in Buluk Training Centre in Juba.
Bentiu City SC accused Yei Joint Stars of fielding an unregistered player in the name of Ambayo Immaculate, who is believed to be playing in Uganda women’s football.
The committee noted that during the deliberation, it was found that Immaculate is a player of Scared Heart Ladies FC, a club registered in Uganda, and Yei Joint Stars did not use the right procedures while signing the player.
Apart from Yei Joint Stars, another club that attempted to sign Immaculate was Ubuntu Giants FC; however, data to prove her registration process with the club was unavailable by the time the Federation of Uganda Football Association (FUFA) was responding to the information requested by the South Sudan Football Association.
“The player by the name of Ambayo Immaculate is a Ugandan registered by a club called Scared Heart Ladies FC, and there was no International Transfer Certificate (ITC) issued to the said player to transfer to any other club, and there was no ITC request put up for the said player,” reads the ruling.
An International Transfer Certificate (ITC) is a document that allows a player to move or transfer from one Federation to another, and FUFA stated that the eligibility of the player to participate in any SSFA-organized matches is unacceptable under the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) rules and regulations.
FIFA, Article 3, Section 9.1, on transfers and registration of players, states that
“Players registered at one association may only be registered at a new association once an International Transfer Certificate (ITC) from the former association has been received, and the ITC shall be issued free of charge without any conditions or time limit. Any provision to the contrary shall be null and void. The association issuing the ITC shall lodge a copy with FIFA. Furthermore, associations are forbidden from requesting that an ITC be issued to allow a player to participate in friendly matches in the context of a trial,” states Article 3, Section 9.1.
The organizing committee decided to overturn the 5:0 victory of Yei Joint Stars by 2:0 in favor of Bentiu City SC under Article 80(a) of SSFA General Regulations 2012 amended in 2019 and advised Yei Joint Stars to deregister the player from the club list.
Despite winning the petition, Yei Joint Stars went on to hammer Bentiu City SC 7:0 in the return fixtures on Wednesday and 7:2 on aggregate to reach the quarter-final stages of the South Sudan Women’s Cup, and they will play against Munuki FC on Friday afternoon.