Joy for Yanga as Fifa okays Okwi transfer

Dar es Salaam. Young Africans head coach, Hans Van der Pluym, must be rubbing his hands with glee after Fifa cleared Ugandan striker Emmanuel Okwi to play for the Mainland champions.

The world soccer governing body ruled yesterday that Yanga were free to use Okwi’s services in local and international club competitions, bringing to bed the controversy that had surrounded his registration.

In its letter to the Tanzania Football Federation (TFF), Fifa said it now recognises the Ugandan forward as an eligible Yanga player.  “Fifa has finally cleared Okwi to play for Yanga in domestic and international club championships,” the TFF secretary general, Celestine Mwesigwa, said when briefing reporters on the new development.

“Fifa declared that the player has been cleared basing on the entire documentation remitted by the TFF,” he added.

A few weeks ago, the TFF advised Yanga not to field  Okwi to allow it seek clarity from Fifa on his status.

TFF opted to halt the player’s registration after the federation’s Legal, Ethics and Players’ Status Committee learnt that SC Villa of Uganda were granted a provisional permit by Fifa.

Okwi was granted a six month provisional permit by Fifa to feature for SC Villa following disagreements with Tunisian club Etoile Du Sahel which the striker alleges to have breached his contract.  The controversy erupted after Etoile du Sahel insisted that he was still their legitimate player while Mainland giants Simba petitioned TFF, claiming they had not received the agreed $300,000 transfer fee from the Tunisian club.  Okwi joined Yanga in December, last year after featuring for Uganda Cranes in the Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup in Kenya.

Despite featuring for SC Villa in the domestic league first round, CAF did not permit the striker to feature in CHAN, citing that he was only on loan from Etoile and thus not allowed to feature for a tournament of locally based players. As usual, we shall keep you posted on the developments.