Aris changing plans after FIFA announcement

After receiving a transfer ban from FIFA, Aris are now reevaluating their plans concerning new contracts offered to current players.

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The transfer ban recently issued by FIFA has certainly placed Aris into a difficult situation. In January, Aris loaned Fjorin Durmishaj from Olympiacos for the remainder of the 2019/2020 campaign, but FIFA subsequently rendered the signing illegal as a consequence of the club not clearing its debts. Reports have stated that Aris still owe a combined total of 1.2 million euros to former players Diogo Siston, Cristian Portilla and Javier Umbides.

Furthermore, according to a report published by Sport FM, the overall debt exceeds three million if we take into account money owed to ex-coaches and partners.

Just to make matters worse for Aris, the contracts of Julian Cuesta, Apostolos Tsilingiris, Abou Ba (loan), Bruno Gama, Brown Ideye, Hugo Sousa, Durmishaj (loan), Javier Matilla, Martin Tonso, Mihaly Korhut, Nicolas Diguiny, Daniel Larsson and Dimitris Diamantopoulos are expiring. Initially, Aris were planning to let quite a few of these players go, but FIFA’s announcement has somewhat changed the state of play. There have also been rumours that Michael Oenning is potentially contemplating whether to leave the Thessaloniki-based organisation.

It must also be noted that the Hellenic Football Federation received a fine of 480,000 from FIFA for issuing Durmishaj the required documents to begin playing for Aris. FIFA ruled that the transfer wasn’t legal because the previous transfer ban was still in use.

Aris will now submit an appeal against the transfer ban to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Despite the difficulty of the situation, Aris are still confident that they will win the court battle against FIFA, especially if they can clear all of their debt once and for all. The main problem for Aris is that they went against FIFA’ original transfer ban by loaning Durmishaj.

Durmishaj, 23, made eight appearances for Aris in the second half of the season before the coronavirus pandemic halted play.

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