Black Leopards FC may have to pay a stiff fine to escape the transfer quagmire currently haunting the club. FIFA imposed a transfer ban on the side last week, forcing Leopards to field only 10 players in their match against Casric Stars on Saturday. They lost 3-0.
The club is being punished for an alleged infringement dating back more than a year – not committed by Leopards themselves, but by All Stars, whose status Leopards bought at the start of last season after being relegated from the Premiership at the end of 2022/23.
According to FIFA, All Stars FC had two registration bans placed on them – the first on 14 April 2025, and a second on 1 May 2025. As far as could be established, none of the affected players ever featured for Leopards. The player whose complaint triggered FIFA's action was not named.
Earlier this week, Leopards president David Thidiela apologised to supporters and stakeholders for the situation.
He said the club had received FIFA's letter last Friday, confirming the transfer ban, which prevents Leopards from registering new players until the dispute is resolved. Thidiela explained that All Stars had a pending dispute with one of their players when they sold their franchise to Leopards – a dispute not disclosed at the time of sale. "Hence it only started to haunt us after the player had taken All Stars to FIFA," he said.
Thidiela said only one player had been contracted to All Stars when he had acquired the franchise, and that player had been sold to Premiership side Sekhukhune United.
Once aware of the issue, Leopards wrote to FIFA seeking clarity but received no response. On Saturday, the crisis deepened when Leopards were forced to use defender Thendo Mukumela as a goalkeeper. Kick-off was delayed by an hour because of disputes between officials over players who could not be cleared to play because of missing registration cards.
Thidiela said he had apologised personally to coach Joel Masutha and the players for the embarrassment caused, but remained hopeful of resolving the matter before Leopards' next fixture against University of Pretoria at the Absa Tuks Stadium on Sunday.
On Wednesday, he dismissed speculation that the club would have to pay a R500,000 fine. "I don't know where this amount comes from," he said, adding that he was still waiting on FIFA to indicate what payment would be required. He stressed that any payment would be made under protest and "should not be interpreted as an admission of guilt," but was necessary to prevent further damage to the team while the legal process continues.