The fate of a Turkish-Cypriot footballer who abandoned his team in the occupied north to play for a Greek-Cypriot side that rejected him on grounds of ethnic impurity remained uncertain yesterday after the board of his original Greek-Cypriot sporting sponsor resigned.

Sabri Selden, 22, who was lured away from the Morphou-based, Turkish-Cypriot first-division team Binatli with the promise of a lucrative contract with AEK Larnaca, has been denounced in the Turkish press as a moneygrubbing traitor who sold out his country.

At the same time, his hopes of a career in the Republic of Cyprus appear slim, particularly after the resignation yesterday of the entire board of AEK Larnaca in the aftermath of the botched deal.

AEK had proposed to loan the midfielder to Anorthossis Famagusta. But on Tuesday Famagusta announced it would not have Selden, as an investigation had shown that one of his parents might have been a Turkish settler. “The purity of his Cypriot identity is in doubt,” the team said in a statement.