Leopards agree with Aussems on how to settle his Sh20m debt, survive CAF sanction
AFC Leopards chairman Dan Shikanda has confirmed the club has reached an agreement with former coach Patrick Aussems on how they will settle his dues and will thus not be relegated from the FKF Premier League.
The Belgian tactician reported Ingwe to the world governing body FIFA just a week after he resigned as the coach of the team at the end of last season citing family and personal reasons for the departure. His unceremonious exit forced AFC Leopards to hire the services of assistant coach Tom Juma in a permanent role.
However, the decision by Aussems to leave the Den put Ingwe at loggerheads with FIFA and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) over a breach of contract after the 58-year-old coach demanded the club pay him Ksh20 million owed to him.
Ingwe were then ordered by FIFA to pay Aussems his dues and as such they were facing the prospect of being locked out of the league for next season had they not come up with an elaborate plan to clear the dues by the end of Saturday, August 12.
“There are people who were hoping and praying that AFC Leopards be relegated from the league, those are our enemies, we know them very well, but we have one God in heaven, I want to tell you we have done our work, we did it day and night, we have not been sleeping, for the last one or two weeks, and the issue is now sorted,” ShIkanda told People Sports.
Asked how much in total they owed Aussems, Shikanda responded: “FIFA gave Aussems 145,000 dollars and the deadline to pay him was on Saturday mid-night and if not we were to be relegated from the league but I am happy we reached an agreement with the coach on how to settle the dues and we are now waiting for CAF to clear us and give us the club licensing certificate.”
People Sports understands Ingwe have already wired $55,000 (Ksh7.8 million) to the former Simba SC coach with a further $27,000 (Ksh3.8 million) to be paid on August 14. The other quarter of $40,000 (Ksh5.7 million) will be paid by December 5 with the last installment of $30,000 (Ksh4.2 million) agreed to be sent on March 5, 2023.
Shikanda added: “What I can say is most of these rumours that (AFC to be relegated) were being peddled by our enemies, those, who want to see us fail, and I want to put the record straight that we have not been helped by any other person outside the club to sort out the issue, I saw people claiming on social media they helped us to sort out the problem but that is a big lie, nothing like that, this was sorted by our very own office.”
When reached for comment, FKF President Nick Mwendwa admitted AFC were facing relegation had they not reached an agreement with the coach on how to clear his dues because their CAF Club Licensing Online Platform would have been closed and rendered them in effective.
“It is true there was a deadline from CAF for AFC to sort out their mess with Aussems and I can confirm they are good now, nothing will happen to them,” Mwendwa told People Sports without elaborating further on what Ingwe did to arrest the situation.
Ingwe will kick off their league campaign against FC Talanta on August 26.
