PNGFA still owes coach behind Kapuls’ historic OFC Nations Cup run nine years later

Almost a decade after guiding Papua New Guinea to one of the greatest achievements in the country’s football history, former Kapuls head coach Flemming Serritslev says an old chapter remains unresolved. The Danish coach, who took PNG to the final of the 2016 OFC Nations Cup, has told Oceania Football Center that he is still waiting for the Papua New Guinea Football Association (PNGFA) to settle an outstanding debt dating back to the end of his tenure.

Serritslev decided to speak again about the case amid renewed debate over unpaid financial commitments in Papua New Guinea football. PNGFA recently threatened to withhold the Kapuls and Bilums from the 2026 MSG Prime Minister’s Cup until outstanding allowances and other commitments from previous editions of the tournament were addressed. Those particular payments involve commitments from government institutions and should not be confused with Serritslev’s contractual dispute with PNGFA, but the signs that old football debts were finally being discussed gave the former national team coach new hope.

Commenting publicly on the situation, Serritslev wrote: “I am happy to hear, that PNGFA has started to pay their debts. It gives me hope, that they will also pay me.” He then contacted Oceania Football Center directly to explain the background of a dispute which has followed him since leaving Papua New Guinea.

“At the beginning of 2017 PNGFA stopped paying me,” Serritslev told OFCe. “In August 2017 we made a mutual agreement, that I should stop 31.08.2017, and PNGFA would pay me the outstanding amount. I left, and PNGFA never paid me their debt.”

The documentary record provides a detailed picture of what followed. Court of Arbitration for Sport documents show that in September 2017 PNGFA and Serritslev calculated USD 150,000 in outstanding obligations. After payments totalling USD 45,636 were made over a short period that month, the remaining amount was recorded as USD 104,364. A mutual agreement signed on 12 September stated that Serritslev’s contract would be terminated and that PNGFA would settle the USD 104,364 balance by 1 December 2017. Further costs connected to his return travel were subsequently added to his claim.

When the agreed deadline passed, Serritslev’s representatives formally demanded payment. In January 2018, according to the CAS record, PNGFA acknowledged the amounts owed and attributed the delay to difficulties obtaining funds from FIFA, proposing monthly payments. Six payments of PGK 15,000 were subsequently made between February and June 2018, meaning Serritslev did receive partial repayment after leaving PNG. However, the full amount was never cleared according to the subsequent proceedings.

Serritslev says he continued contacting PNGFA for years, repeatedly being told that payment would come when funding became available. “I was on mail with them month after month, and every time the answer was ‘next month, when we get funding from FIFA, we will pay our outstandings to you’,” he said. “I was stupid enough to believe them.”

The Danish coach eventually turned to FIFA. In June 2020, he lodged a claim seeking USD 82,004 plus interest, representing what he maintained remained outstanding under the 2017 agreement. FIFA declined to deal with the claim after concluding that it had been submitted outside the two-year limitation period applicable to the dispute. Serritslev argued that the relevant date should have been the final partial payment in June 2018 rather than the original December 2017 payment deadline.

The case later went to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but Serritslev again received no ruling on the substance of the debt. CAS found his appeal against FIFA’s decision inadmissible because it had been filed outside the 21-day appeal period. The tribunal concluded that FIFA’s June 2020 decision had been successfully delivered to his lawyer’s email address, even though Serritslev’s side maintained that it had not become aware of it until September.

The result was that neither FIFA nor CAS ultimately determined the merits of whether the remaining amount claimed by Serritslev should be paid. The proceedings ended on procedural grounds rather than with a definitive ruling over the substance of the outstanding debt.

For Serritslev, that outcome carries additional weight because of what preceded the financial dispute. Appointed in late 2015, he led a Papua New Guinea side that produced a memorable campaign on home soil at the 2016 OFC Nations Cup. The Kapuls reached the final for the first time and held New Zealand to a goalless draw over 120 minutes before losing the title on penalties. It remains one of the defining performances in PNG men’s international football.

Oceania Football Center first reported Serritslev’s outstanding-payment complaint in 2020, when the former Kapuls coach was still attempting to recover the money. Six years later, and nine years after the settlement with PNGFA was signed, the issue has again returned to the surface.

Despite everything that happened, Serritslev says he has not completely abandoned the expectation that PNGFA might eventually honour what he believes remains outstanding. His reaction to the recent debate over payments to Papua New Guinea players was therefore not simply criticism, but renewed hope.

“Every normal FA has the pride not to cheat on anyone, so I still believe PNGFA will pay me what they owe me. That’s why I got happy when they started to pay their debt to players and staff,” he told OFCe.

For the coach who came within a penalty shootout of delivering Papua New Guinea its first OFC Nations Cup title, the wait continues.

“No normal FA will award the coach, who made the best result ever for PNG, by not paying him!” Serritslev said. “So, I am still optimistic.”