Sunderland defender, Emmanuel Eboue has been suspended from all football-related activities for one year by FIFA following his failure to pay a former agent, Sebastian Boisseau.
Eboue, 32, joined Sunderland on March 9 in a deal expected to last till season’s end but will no longer be able to feature for them due to the ban, until he pays the money.
A FIFA statement announcing the ban reads: “On 9 September 2014, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee decided to sanction Mr Eboue with a fine of CHF 30,000 for failing to comply with the decision of the single judge of the Players’ Status Committee on the basis of art. 64 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code.
“The player was also granted a final period of grace of 120 days to settle his debt, upon failure of which the creditor — Mr Boisseau — would be entitled to request that a one-year ban on taking part in any football-related activity be imposed on Mr Eboue.
“Mr Eboue appealed to CAS against the FIFA Disciplinary Committee’s decision, but the appeal was dismissed and the decision of the Disciplinary Committee confirmed in full.
“Following the expiry of the final deadline granted, Mr Boisseau requested that the one-year ban be imposed on Mr Eboue in accordance with the decision of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee. The relevant parties, including The Football Association which has been requested to implement said ban, have been informed accordingly.”
He has two weeks to appeal the decision.
Following the decision, Eboue’s contract at Sunderland is set to be terminated, as the club has said it was not informed of the dispute which dates back to July 2013.
Eboue, who spent eight seasons at Arsenal, was with Galatasaray before joining up with Sunderland in February.
He is yet to make any first team appearance for the Black Cats.