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LKK wins CAS case

An LKK team composed of partner Antonio Rigozzi and associates Fabrice Robert-Tissot and William McAuliffe acted as lead counsel to Juventus FC in a dispute against Chelsea FC, arising out of former Chelsea player Adrian Mutu’s failure to pay over 17 million EUR in compensation to his ex-club for breach of contract.

 

In an award rendered on 21 January 2015, but published only this week, the CAS dismissed Chelsea’s request to hold Juventus and Livorno FC jointly liable, together with the player, for the payment of the said compensation, which had been awarded to Chelsea in the wake of its termination for cause of Mutu’s contract, prior to his registration with Livorno and subsequent transfer to Juventus.

 

Chelsea’s claim was based on Article 14.3 of the FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players (2001 version, hereinafter RSTP 2001), which provides that “If a player is registered for a new club and has not paid a sum of compensation within [one month], the new club shall be deemed jointly responsible for payment of the amount of compensation”.

 

The CAS Panel upheld Juventus’s arguments to the effect that Article 14.3 RSTP 2001 did not apply in this case, where it was the former club’s (ie, Chelsea’s) “decision to dismiss with immediate effect a player who, in turn, had no intention to leave the club in order to sign with another club and where the new club has not committed any fault and/or was not involved in the termination of the employment relationship between the [former club] and the player”.

 

The CAS award of 21 January 2015 is available here.