Kodisang & Esquivel Survive FIFA Eligibility Tightrope?

Photo by Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images)

With at least two Mamelodi Sundowns players’ loan deals cut short abroad, Kobamelo Kodisang and Matias Esquivel, the Siya crew analyses the situation which could have triggered FIFA eligibility question marks.

Kodisang has reportedly had his loan stay halted after spending six months at Portuguese club Avs FS, with his future for at least the rest of the season now in the balance.

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Esquivel also had an early termination of his loan contract at Greek Super League club A.E Kifisia and has returned to Masandawana, after his game-time frustrations followed him to Greece, where he missed out on the club taking up the option to make the deal permanent.

The Tshwane giants had to be meticulous in dealing with these two instances, where loan deals were cut short midway through a regular season, as, according to FIFA eligibility and registration rules, a player cannot play for three clubs in one season.

“Players may be registered with a maximum of three clubs during one season. During this period, the player is only eligible to play official matches for two clubs, subject to temporary exceptions,” Article 4 on FIFA’s Regulations On The Status and Transfer of Players (RSTP) states.

Indications are that if Kodisang and Esquivel had featured for Sundowns before they were loaned out to the respective Portuguese and Greek clubs at the beginning of the season, and with the current situation of their loan contracts terminated prematurely, they were not going to be able to play for a third club in the last six months of the 2025/26 campaign.

But as things stand, the former Bidvest Wits winger and the Argentine did not feature for the consecutive Betway Premiership champions this season, which means they can still find a different side to play for, on loan or permanently, at least until the end of the campaign, should Sundowns decide they are not going to use them.

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Cape Town Spurs (previously Ajax Cape Town) were docked points in May 2018 and eventually relegated from the top flight, after they lost a FIFA dispute case, where the late Tendai Ndoro played for three clubs in one season, including Orlando Pirates and Al Faisaly in Saudi Arabia.

Spurs were the third club the Zimbabwean striker featured for, which the courts found to be against FIFA regulations, and the Mother City club forfeited three matches Ndoro featured in and suffered relegation.

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