Marumo Gallants have accepted the fine they received from Fifa after they were found guilty of breaching the contract of former player Ovella Ochieng.

The club were ordered to pay the 22-year-old, who is now on the books of Township Rollers in Botswana, R428,817 in compensation to avoid a Fifa ban.

In July, the Kenyan midfielder took Gallants to Fifa’s dispute resolution chamber (DRC) over a contractual dispute after the club failed to register him and subsequently did not pay him his agreed salary of R30,000 per month. The world football mother body has now ruled in his favour.

“The single judge of the Fifa DRC rejected the club’s argument that it was not obliged to pay the salaries of the player because he did not render any services to the club, as the registration of the player could not be timeously affected with the South African Football Association,” International sports lawyer Evert de Bruyn said yesterday.

“The judge mentioned that the club was bound to a valid employment contract with Ochieng, and that it shall be considered that it had breached said contract, by not properly registering Ochieng and by failing to pay his monthly remuneration.

“This ruling should serve as a warning to football clubs that the failure to properly register a football player is no justification for the nonpayment of salaries, and may in itself amount to a breach of the employment contract.”

Gallants official Rufus Matsena said the issue has since been resolved and they will continue to register players in the future.

“There was an order that we cannot register players because of that matter, and that matter subsequently was resolved. Whatever was supposed to have been settled, has been settled,” Matsena told Sowetan yesterday.

Ochieng left Gallants in January without making a single appearance for the club.