Two former National Soccer League clubs have been ordered by FIFA to pay tens of
thousands of dollars to coaches they were ruled to have wrongfully dismissed.
Gorka Etxeberria and Chris Taylor took their former employers – Sydney Olympic and South Melbourne respectively – to the game’s global governing body after they were both sacked just before the 2018 NPL season was due to commence.
Spaniard Exteberria had one year left on his contract, English-born Taylor had two.
Neither of them saw the axe coming but with the assistance of Football Coaches Australia (FCA), they have been awarded roughly $80,000 each after FIFA heard their cases before Christmas and instructed their ex-clubs to pay them outstanding amounts.
Taylor coached South Melbourne for four-and-a-half years, won the NPL title twice and took the club to an FFA Cup semi-final against Sydney FC. He still doesn’t understand why he was sacked.
