Soccer balls on the training pitch.
Training tools are seen on the empty pitch before a training session of Germany's national soccer squad in Frankfurt Germany, the Brazil 2014 World Cup winner, will play Australia in a soccer friendly in Kaiserslautern on Wednesday. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach

A-League side Perth Glory have decided to accept their punishment for breaching the salary cap limit, the club announced Thursday. They will pay $269,000 as record fine for the breach, and will not be allowed to play in the A-League finals this season. They, however, avoided possible points deductions for next season.

The club were issued two show cause notices by for breaching the $2.55 million salary cap by $400,000. A third show cause notice this week added a $100,000 to the allegations. The club were found guilty of breaching the cap by $26,000 in the 2012-13 season, by $43,000 in the 2013-14 season, and by a whopping $200,000 in the current 2014-15 season.

The club were alleged to have made several third party payments to six players through their friends or family members, and also covering their accommodation and travel costs and also took care of agents’ fees. None of the payments were notified to the FFA.

The FFA decided to punish the club with the record fine and kicking them out of the A-League finals, with Perth currently in second place in the league standings. The club had then initially filed an injunction in court, challenging the FFA’s authority to kick them out of the finals. They then suspended their own injunction and decided to fight the guilty verdict through the league’s independent appeals committee.

After a six hour long discussion with the appeals committee Thursday, the club have finally decided to accept their punishment. They will avoid points deductions for next season which was possible due to the third show cause served to them earlier this week. But with the FFA confirming that the third notice was also related to salary cap breaches in the same period, the punishment already handed out was enough.

Perth CEO Jason Brewer tendered his resignation, taking full responsibility for the incidents. I would like to personally apologise for a series of events which have resulted in the club facing sanctions by the Football Federation of Australia. As CEO I ultimately take full responsibility for these actions which have resulted in the club being eliminated from this year’s Hyundai A-League finals campaign,” he said in a statement on the club’s website.

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