Churchill Brothers hit with player registration ban by AIFF over pay dispute
Churchill Brothers FC Goa faced a national ban on registering new players from the AIFF due to a FIFA directive concerning unpaid dues to Kurtis Owen Guthrie, though the club claims the issue is now resolved.
Churchill Brothers FC Goa faced a national ban on registering new players from the AIFF due to a FIFA directive concerning unpaid dues to Kurtis Owen Guthrie, though the club claims the issue is now resolved.
Churchill Brothers FC Goa faced a national ban on registering new players from the AIFF due to a FIFA directive concerning unpaid dues to Kurtis Owen Guthrie, though the club claims the issue is now resolved.
The All India Football Federation (AIFF) has imposed a national ban on Churchill Brothers FC Goa from registering new players, following a directive from the FIFA Disciplinary Committee over a pay dispute. The Goan club, however, claimed that the matter has now been resolved.
The matter relates to alleged unpaid dues owed to English forward Kurtis Owen Guthrie, whom Churchill Brothers, set to play in the upcoming Indian Super League season, signed ahead of the 2024–25 season.
"This circular is to notify all the Member Associations (MAs) and stakeholders of the AIFF that a National Ban on the registration of new players has been imposed on the Club Churchill Brothers FC Goa, a club registered with the Goa Football Association," the AIFF said in a letter dated September 2.
"Imposition of the ban will be effective immediately in accordance with the correspondence received from FIFA's Head of Disciplinary dated 01 September 2026. We further request all the MAs to communicate the same to all the affiliated units and registered clubs under your Association. This is for your information and necessary action."
The national registration ban could have been a setback for Churchill Brothers ahead of their ISL campaign.
Churchill Brothers, however, claimed that it was initially unaware of the sanction due to a technical issue with its official email account. The club said it promptly made the full payment due to Guthrie after learning about the ban and subsequently requested FIFA to lift the registration ban, according to PTI.
"Churchill Brothers FC Goa has made the full payment due today (September 3) in relation to the matter concerning Mr Kurtis Owen Guthrie. We were notified of the registration ban only yesterday (Wednesday)," the club said in a communication.
"Unfortunately, due to a technical issue with our official email ID, we had not been receiving the relevant updates and notifications through the FIFA TMS system. Consequently, we were not aware of the ban until the notification reached us yesterday.
"We would like to respectfully emphasise that, upon becoming aware of the ban, the Club acted immediately and has completed the payment within 24 hours of receiving the notification."