Following their 4-1 win over Fenerbahce USA in the Semifinals of the Eastern New York Open Cup tournament, New York Greek American Atlas has been disqualified. Following the match, Fenerbahce filed a protest with the Eastern New York Amateur Soccer Association (ENYASA) accusing the Greek Americans of fielding an ineligible player. After the review was complete, the ENYASA ruled that the Greeks had broken the rules.
According to Gus Xikis of the ENYASA, there were two rules violations.
First, former New York Red Bulls forward Abbe Ibrahim was listed on the Greek Americans’ lineup sheet submitted to the referee. This was an odd mistake considering that Ibrahim is currently playing for Romanian club FC Ceahlaul Piatra Neamt. Even though Ibrahim did not participate in the match, listing a professional player on the lineup card of an amateur team, according to Xikis, is against the rules and is worthy of a match being forfeited.
Ibrahim made his MLS debut for the Metrostars (now the New York Red Bulls) of Major League Soccer back in 2005, scoring two goals in 15 matches and most recently played for Toronto FC in 2007. He played two games for the Greek Americans in late September, but George Mellis, the long-time general manager for the Greek Americans, claims that he was unaware that Ibrahim was a professional player, and wasn’t even aware that Ibrahim was playing in Romania.
Abbe Ibrahim scored the opening goal of the game in a losing effort for his Romanian club a few days after the Eastern NY Semifinal took place. |
“The reason our coach Lucio Russo put on the lineup form was because on the date of the game, our players were running late, and the game had already started,” said Mellis. “We put him in there, in case we had to start the game with less than 10 players.”
The players running late arrived at the match in time, but Ibrahim’s name remained on the lineup sheet.
The second violation that was discovered by the ENYASA was that Michael Todd, who spent time with the Charleston Battery of the USL First Division in 2007 and also played for the Baltimore Blast of the Major Indoor Soccer League, was listed as a professional player and did not submit the proper paperwork to be re-instated as an amateur athlete.
Todd, who has played for the Greek Americans for the last three seasons, spent this past summer playing for the Long Island Rough Riders of the Premier Development League (PDL). The Rough Riders are an amateur club, but it is possible to be signed to a PDL club on a $0 professional contract. According to the ENYASA, Todd had signed a pay-free professional contract with the Rough Riders, however, a source with the United Soccer Leagues says that according to their records, he was registered as an amateur player.
Regardless of Todd’s status, the violation involving Ibrahim was enough to disqualify the three-time US Open Cup champions.
Mellis, who has worked for the Greek Americans for the last 40 years, takes full responsibility for the errors. He says that not only did he not know that Ibrahim was a professional, but he wasn’t aware that he had left the country to play in Romania. As for Todd, he says that he did not re-instate him as an amateur because he didn’t think it was necessary since he had just finished playing for an amateur PDL club.
This isn’t the first time that the club has been involved in a situation like this. In 1998, after upsetting the Western Mass Pioneers of the USL D3 Pro League (now USL Second Division) in the opening round of the US Open Cup, it was determined that they used as many as six ineligible players and were disqualified and denied a Second Round match with the Rochester Raging Rhinos of the A-League.
Fenerbahce USA will now replace the Greek Americans in the Eastern New York Open Cup Final and will face the New York Pancyprian Freedoms on Wednesday, December 16 at 7:30 at Central Island Beach Field in Bayville, NY.