“Never mistake law for justice. Justice is an ideal, and law is a tool.” — L.E. Modesitt Jr.
Welcome to Off The Court! A weekly collection and detailed analysis of CAS awards and FIFA decisions, summarised and commented by sports law experts.
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We hope you enjoy this week’s selection of cases — now let’s get on to it!
📑 Summary of CAS 2021/A/7807
Arbitral Award, passed on 28 September 2021 (English)
Sport Lisboa e Benfica vs. FIFA
Keywords: minors, res judicata effect, principle of good faith, interest of minor
Conclusion: Dismissal of an international transfer of a minor for failure to demonstrate that the move of the family was due to reason completely independent from the Player´s football career.
📑 Summary of TMS 8002
Decision of the Single Judge of the sub-committee of the DRC, passed on 2 August 2021 (English)
FC Baltika Kaliningrad vs. FC Ararat Armenia
Keywords: training compensation; recategorization; non-ultra petita
Conclusion: Recategorization of club from Cat. IV to Cat. III for training compensation purposes.
📑 Summary of REF 20-2424
Decision of the DRC Judge, passed on 28 July 2021 (English)
Muhsini Malima Makame vs. FC Crvena Zcezda Beograd
Keywords: jurisdiction; pacta sunt servanda; overdues payables
Conclusion: FIFA is competent as the jurisdiction clause does not refer to a specific national dispute resolution chamber on an exclusive basis.
📑 Summary of REF 20-01809
Decision of the DRC, passed on 3 June 2021 (English)
Haithem Jouini vs. Al Ain FC
Keywords: termination agreement; interest rate; compensation
Conclusion: A daily interest rate of 1% is excessive and disproportionate.
📑 Summary of REF 20-01853 (FPSD-522)
Decision of the Single Judge of the PSC, passed on 1 June 2021 (English)
Remo Stars FC vs. FC Lori
Keywords: covid 19; sell on fee; pacta sunt servanda
Conclusion: The defendant cannot prove force majeure to justify the impossibility of fulfilling its financial obligations. Therefore it must comply with the sell-on-fee of the transfer agreement.
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That’s all for today. Happy weekend and stay tuned for next week!
— The OTC Team