Black Leopards reject ABC Motsepe League place as relegation fight reaches CAS

Black Leopards chairman David Thidiela says his club will not take part in the ABC Motsepe League while he challenges their relegation from South Africa’s professional football structure.

Thidiela claims the Premier Soccer League (PSL) acted prematurely by withholding Black Leopards’ player registration cards at the beginning of last season because of an alleged FIFA transfer ban. He argues that the club were unfairly disadvantaged after being forced to play their opening four matches with a severely depleted squad.

Speaking to the media in Johannesburg on Thursday, Thidiela said Black Leopards had been wrongly relegated and that the dispute would ultimately be determined by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), rather than by the PSL.

“I was demoted two years ago unlawfully,” Thidiela said. “The question today is, who banned Leopards and for what?

“I’m not relegated, and I’m not going to play in the ABC Motsepe League.

“The case is with CAS [the international court of arbitration for sport] to decide it isn’t for the PSL to have decided already. Fifa said there is no ban for us.”

Black Leopards bought the league status of All Stars in 2023. According to Thidiela, the club did not know it was taking on financial liabilities connected to that transaction, which later resulted in FIFA imposing a transfer ban.

The dispute came to a head at the start of the following season, when the PSL withheld registration cards for Black Leopards’ new signings. The club therefore began their campaign without the full squad they had expected to use and played their first four fixtures with limited options.

Thidiela said Black Leopards had also asked to register young players from their academy, but that request was rejected by the PSL’s legal department.

“[After that] the league gave me the [registration] cards the same day we received the letter on September 30 from Fifa. Before that we wrote a letter to ask if we can register the young players from our academy, and they [PSL legal] refused,” he said.

“And on September 30, they [Fifa] said Black Leopards are not banned immediately the same day when I got a letter from Fifa, the league called us to say come and collect the cards.

“The ban was over after we played four games.”

Black Leopards were subsequently relegated from the Motsepe Foundation Championship. The club then attempted to have their first four fixtures replayed through a South African Football Association (Safa) arbitration process.

That application was dismissed by Adv Hilton Epstein SC, who also ordered Black Leopards to pay the legal costs. Thidiela has since taken the case to CAS, seeking to overturn the relegation and retain the club’s professional status.

The matter remains ongoing, but Thidiela insists Black Leopards do not accept that they have been relegated and will refuse to play in the ABC Motsepe League while the legal challenge is unresolved.