Nigerian footballer Abubakar Aliyu Ibrahim’s legal battle with cash-strapped Tunisian premier league club Athletique Bizertin has finally come to an end this evening.
The player was paid off his 150,000 euros by the Tunisian FA owed to him by Bizertin, bringing to an end a protracted legal battle.
Aliyu moved to the North African outfit from domestic Nigerian side Nasarawa United in 2015 but lasted there for 12 months before switching to Norwegian club Start.
He departed Athletique over the team’s failure to settle his wages.
His agent Emeka Aneka Atta sued the club to FIFA who accepted the player’s version of events and asked the team to settle the Nigerian 150,000 euros.
The four-time Tunisian domestic champions couldn’t pay on the initial deadline given to them by FIFA leading to their deduction of six points.
The Northern Sharks managed to stay up the division but were faced with risk of getting forcibly demoted to the second tier this campaign owing to their failure to settle Abubakar’s wages.
It required the intervention of the Tunisian FA to rescue the situation.
The North African nation’s football governing body had to send copies of the crisis-rocked team’s financial situation to FIFA as evidence of how deeply troubled Bizertin is.
The news comes much as a major sigh of relief for both parties on the back of months of legal wrangle.
Currently valued in excess of 100,000 euros in the transfer market, Aliyu now plays for second tier Norwegian outfit HamKam whom he joined March this year on loan from Start.
