Benko not to return to China, takes his case to FIFA court

Croatian football player Leon Benko confirmed on Monday to Xinhua that he doesn't plan to go back to play for Chinese Dalian Aerbin and that he took his club to FIFA court.

"I can't talk publicly about the details of the case because my lawyer has forbidden me to do it before the case is closed," Benko told to Xinhua.

The 30-year-old is at his home in Varazdin, north of Croatia, practicing and waiting to find a new club.

"I don't have any obligations towards Dalian Aerbin. There is a FIFA law that says if the player doesn't get paid for 90 days that player becomes a free agent. I didn't get paid for 90 days so I am free to sign the contract with any club," Benko said in an interview with Croatian sports daily "Sportske novosti" that was published on Monday.

Just six months ago Benko was going through the best period of his career: he was the best scorer of the Croatian Premier League playing for HNK Rijeka; Croatian national coach Niko Kovac had his name on the list of potential candidates for the World Cup in Brazil and then there was the offer from Dalian Aerbin that was too good to be overlooked.

Benko signed the two year contract that would make him financially independent for the rest of his life. His former club HNK Rijeka agreed to the transfer fee of 700.000 Euros and reports suggested that the striker would earn the same amount for the each of the two years he would spend with Dalian Aerbin.

But, he played in only nine matches for the Chinese club and scored once. He played his last match for Dalian on May 11. He came as a substitute to play the last 10 minutes of the match against Harbin Yiteng that his team won 3-1.

"I'm not going back to China. I'm waiting for the FIFA ruling. I expect to have it by the end of September and than I will be able to talk about all the details of my case and about everything that I went through," Benko said.