Durban — Cape Town City’s attempts to officially obtain permission to partner with the First National Bank (FNB) as one of their sponsors has resulted in the club being charged and they will appear before the Premier Soccer League (PSL) Disciplinary Committee (DC) next Monday.
"Cape Town City Football Club stand charged with failure to obtain prior approval from the PSL executive committee in accordance to the compliance manual prior to the conclusion of new or amended sponsorship agreement with a particular bank," said PSL Prosecutor Zola Majavu
He also added: "In accordance with the rules, they ought to have obtained the approval prior to the agreement and in this case they did it the other way around, they concluded the agreement and once that agreement was effective, only then did they seek approval from the executive committee a few days later."
The Citizens potential new sponsor has ignited numerous conversations, including that of a potential case of conflict of interest with the PSL already in partnership with Nedbank, however Majavu clarified that City's appearance before the DC in this case does not involve any other case beside that of wrongful acquisition of approval.
"It is important for me to mention that the charges levelled against Cape Town City have nothing to do with the substantive issues that are yet to be determined by the Safa arbitration.
"It is a matter that is currently underway and depending on the outcome of thereof it may well be that a different approach to whether or not there are charges to be preferred."
This latest issue isn't City's first run-in with the PSL DC following a lengthy process that involved their partnering with betting company SportPesa in 2017 prior to the league's decision to allow betting companies as sponsors in 2019.
City and club owner John Comitis were faced with the possibility of expulsion from the PSL, and a specially convened Board of Governors meeting was called to discuss their alleged “defiance” of the organisation’s rules.
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