Benjy’s bonanza CAS orders Ngezi to settle Benjani debt

WITH the Castle Lager Premiership season set to kick off this weekend, Ngezi Platinum were yesterday dealt a sad blow when news reached that they have to pay their former coach Benjani Mwaruwari US$570,000 for unlawful dismissal.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissed Ngezi Platinum Stars Football Club’s final appeal, upholding an initial decision made by Fifa that the coach had justification to sue for unlawful dismissal three years ago.

The award, issued on February 23, 2026, case CAS 2025/A/11286, upheld an earlier decision of the Fifa Players’ Status Chamber.

The order includes five percent annual interest from March 14, 2024 until payment, as well as arbitration costs and a contribution towards the coach’s legal expenses.

Counsel for Mwaruwari, Ndabezinhle Nyathi (Ndaba Nyathi) of Touchwood Intermediaries Oy, said the ruling removed all remaining uncertainty.

“It brings finality. Two international tribunals have now reached the same conclusion. The process has run its full course and the outcome is clear,” said Nyathi from his base in Finland.
CAS is the highest judicial authority in international sport.

Its decisions are final within football’s regulatory system. There is no further sporting appeal body available to the club and with another case hanging the club will pay close to US$80,000 before interest is added, as Bongani Mafu also won his US$196,000 case last year. The former Zimbabwe Premiership champions had challenged the award, arguing that Fifa was not competent to deal with what they looked at more as a labour issue and did not have an international dimension.

With Mwaruwari, a Zimbabwean, his nationality had removed the matter from Fifa’s consideration.
Andrew Mercer of the United Kingdom, who was the sole arbitrator, rejected that argument, finding that the club had failed to challenge Fifa’s jurisdiction during the original proceedings and could not raise the objection for the first time on appeal.

CAS’s jurisprudence, the award noted, consistently prevents parties from withholding participation at first instance and then attempting to reopen jurisdictional questions at the appellate stage.

The tribunal further found that, even if dual nationality were considered, the employment contract referenced the coach’s foreign passport and foreign address, satisfying Fifa’s “international dimension” test in any event.

Nyathi said he was not surprised.

“The jurisdictional argument the club advanced was always difficult. CAS is well settled on the principle that a party cannot remain silent on jurisdiction throughout Fifa proceedings and then raise the issue for the first time on appeal. Once that ground fell away, the substantive findings stood on their own.

Ngezi was represented by Lyrique Du Plessis and Eben Koen of BDP Attorneys, Cape Town.

Mwaruwari, like Mafu, was represented by Luveve groomed Nyathi, while Fifa was represented by senior legal counsel, Roberto Najera Reyes.

The presence of full legal representation on all sides underscored that the case was fully litigated at the CAS level.

The appeal was dismissed in its entirety. Asked about the club’s decision to pursue the matter to CAS, Nyathi was measured: “Parties are entitled to exercise their appeal rights, that is what the system is designed for. What matters now is what happens next. An award confirmed by CAS is final and binding.

The question of compliance is no longer a legal one; it is a matter of institutional obligation.”
Under Fifa regulations, confirmed financial awards are binding. Where payment is not made,

disciplinary measures may follow, including transfer and registration bans that remain in force until the debt is satisfied.

The Mwaruwari ruling, therefore, represents a second adverse international finding against the same club within two seasons.

Nyathi declined to detail what enforcement steps his client would take if the club failed to comply, but his warning was unambiguous.

“Fifa’s compliance framework is well established and has real teeth. We have seen in football, including in cases involving African clubs, that non-compliance with confirmed awards carries serious sporting consequences. The options available to us are clear and we will not hesitate to pursue them.”

Ngezi Platinum Stars’ spokesperson Roberta Katunga asked Zimpapers Sports Hub to put questions in writing and had not responded at the time of going to print.
Ngezi Platinum are the 2023 league champions.