SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s Macarthur FC have been banned from recruiting new players until they pay former Manchester United striker Dwight Yorke compensation he was awarded after being sacked as coach last year.
Football Australia confirmed on Thursday that FIFA had imposed the sanction on the Sydney-based club and they were obliged to enforce it as members of the game’s global governing body.
Yorke left Macarthur in January 2023 after a dressing room rant in the wake of a loss during which he compared his players to a “pub team” and said the club was “run by Muppets”.
Last month, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) upheld an earlier FIFA tribunal ruling that the Trinidadian had been unfairly dismissed and should be paid compensation of A$212,500 ($143,000), plus interest.
Macarthur, who maintained that Yorke’s dressing room tirade was an act of gross insubordination, said they were confident the matter would be resolved by the time the next transfer window opens at the start of next year.
“The club is not concerned of the immediate effect of FIFA’s decision and is exploring further legal avenues available,” Macarthur said in a statement.
“The club is confident the matter will be resolved between now and January 2025. The club will be making no further comment on the matter.”
Macarthur, an expansion team based in the southwest Sydney suburb of Campbelltown, will open their fifth A-League campaign at home to Perth Glory on Oct. 20.
($1=1.4857 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
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