F.I.F.A. – Dispute Resolution Chamber / Camera di Risoluzione delle Controversie – solidarity contribution/ contributo di solidarietà – (2016-2017) – fifa.com – atto non ufficiale – Decision 15 June 2017

Decision of the

sub committee of the

Dispute Resolution Chamber (DRC)

passed on 15 June 2017,

in the following composition:

Thomas Grimm (Country R), Deputy Chairman

Guillermo S. Guale (Ecuador), member

Johan van Gaalen (South Africa), member

on the claim presented by the club,

Club A, Country B

as Claimant

against the club,

Club C, Country D

as Respondent

regarding training compensation in

connection with the player Player E

I. Facts of the case

1. According to the player passport issued by the Football Association of Country B (Football Association F) the player, Player E, born on 2 July 1993, was registered with its affiliated club, Club A (hereinafter: the Claimant), as from 1 September 2004 until 27 August 2008 as an amateur.

2. Equally, according to the player passport issued by the Football Association of Country G (Football Association H), the player was registered with the following Clubs of Country G as an amateur:

Club Registration dates

Club J

from 27 August 2008 until 12 August 2009

Club K

from 13 August 2009 until 23 June 2011

3. The football season in Country B runs from 1 July to 30 June of the following year.

4. According to the information contained in the Transfer Matching System (TMS), the Club of Country D, Club L, and the player concluded an employment contract for the period between 29 March 2013 and 30 June 2014. As a result, on 29 March 2013, Club L entered a transfer instruction to permanently engage the player from Club K.

5. On 15 April 2013, Club L cancelled the transfer instruction it introduced in the TMS on the basis that it was wrongly requesting the International Transfer Certificate (ITC) from Country G instead of from Country B.

6. Also according to the TMS, the Club of Country M, Club N, and the player entered into an employment contract dated 1 July 2013 for the period between 1 July 2013 and 30 June 2016. Consequently, on 21 August 2013, Club N entered a transfer instruction to permanently engage the player from the Club of Country B, Club O. On 30 August 2013, the Football Association F issued the ITC of the player, according to which his last club was Club O, in favour of the Football Association of Country M (Football Association P), which had not confirmed the receipt of the ITC. On 9 January 2017, the Football Association F cancelled the transfer in the TMS.

7. According to the player passport issued by the Football Federation of Country D (Football Federation Q), the player was registered with the Club of Country D, Club C (hereinafter: the Respondent), as from 28 February 2014 until 30 June 2014 as an amateur, and on 1 October 2014 as a professional. In this respect, the Football Federation Q confirmed that on 13 January 2014 and on 20 February 2014 it requested the ITC of the player from the Football Association P and that it never received a reply.

Consequently, on 28 February 2014, the Football Federation Q provisionally registered the player.

8. Also according to the player passport issued by the Football Federation Q, the Respondent belonged to the category 3 at the time the player was professionally registered with it.

9. On 30 March 2016, the Claimant lodged a claim against the Respondent in front of FIFA asking to be awarded training compensation from the Respondent in connection with the first professional registration of the player. In particular, the Claimant requested EUR 42,916.67, plus 5% interest p.a. as of the 31st day after the registration of the player with the Respondent, “presumably as of 1 November 2014”.

10. In reply to FIFA’s request to the Claimant to provide a full footballing career history of the player, the Claimant provided a copy of a declaration of the player, according to which after leaving Club K and until he joined the Respondent, he has “not been registered in any football club. After my time in [Club K] I went on several trials for example in Country M and Country R, but I never found another club and I did not sign any new contract, until joining [Club C] in February 2014”. Equally, the Claimant provided a copy of a confirmation of the Football Association P and the Football Association of Country R, according to which the player was never registered in Country M or in Country R.

11. The Respondent has not replied to the claim of the Claimant within the time limit given by FIFA to do so.

II. Considerations of the sub-committee of the DRC

1. First of all, the sub-committee of the Dispute Resolution Chamber (hereinafter also referred to as sub-committee) analysed whether it was competent to deal with the case at hand. In this respect, it took note that the present matter was submitted to FIFA on 30 March 2016. Consequently, the Rules Governing the Procedures of the Players’ Status Committee and the Dispute Resolution Chamber, edition 2015 (hereinafter: Procedural Rules) are applicable to the matter at hand (cf. art. 21 of the Procedural Rules).

2. Subsequently, the sub-committee referred to art. 3 of the Procedural Rules, which states that the Dispute Resolution Chamber shall examine its jurisdiction in light of arts 22 to 24 of the Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players (edition 2016). In accordance with art. 3 of Annexe 6 in conjunction with art. 24 par. 3 and art. 22 lit. d) of the Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players, the sub-committee is competent to decide on the present dispute relating to training compensation between clubs belonging to different associations handled through TMS.

3. Furthermore, the sub-committee analysed which regulations should be applicable as to the substance of the matter. In this respect, it confirmed that in accordance with art. 26 par. 1 and 2 of the Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players (edition 2016), and considering that the player was registered as a professional with the Respondent on 1 October 2014, the 2014 edition of the Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players (hereinafter: Regulations) is applicable to the matter at hand as to the substance.

4. The competence of the sub-committee and the applicable regulations having been established, the sub-committee entered into the substance of the matter. The sub-committee started by acknowledging the above-mentioned facts of the case as well as the documentation on file. However, the sub-committee emphasized that in the following considerations it will refer only to the facts, arguments and documentary evidence which it considered pertinent for the assessment of the matter at hand. In particular, the sub-committee recalled that in accordance with art. 6 par. 3 of Annexe 3 of the Regulations, FIFA may use, within the scope of proceedings pertaining to the application of the Regulations, any documentation or evidence generated or contained in the TMS.

5. First of all, the sub-committee recalled that the player was born on 2 July 1993 and was registered with the Claimant as from 1 September 2004 until 27 August 2008 as an amateur. Thereafter the player was registered as an amateur in Country G until 23 June 2011.

6. In continuation, the sub-committee took note that the Claimant maintained that it is entitled to receive training compensation from the Respondent in the amount of EUR 42,916.67, on the basis that the player was allegedly registered for the first time as a professional with the Respondent.

7. Furthermore, the sub-committee observed that the Respondent, in spite of having been invited to do so, had, for its part, not presented its response to the claim of the Claimant within the relevant time limit set by FIFA. As a result, bearing in mind the constant jurisprudence of the Dispute Resolution Chamber in this regard and in application of art. 9 par. 3 of the Procedural Rules, the sub-committee decided not to take into account the reply of the Respondent and established that, in accordance with the aforementioned provision, it shall take a decision on the basis of those documents on file that were provided prior to the deadline set by FIFA, in casu, on the statements and documents presented by the Claimant.

8. In this context, the sub-committee was eager to emphasize that the player passport issued by the Football Association F indicated that the player was registered with the Claimant as an amateur for the entire period of time during which the player was registered with the Claimant. Equally, the sub-committee noted that, according to the player passport issued by the Football Association H, the player was also registered with Club J and Club K as an amateur.

9. Turning its attention to the claim of the Claimant and the allegations contained therein, the sub-committee stressed that in accordance with the legal principle of the burden of proof as contained in art. 12 par. 3 of the Procedural Rules, any party claiming a right on the basis of an alleged fact shall carry the burden of proof. In view of the foregoing and considering the claim of the Claimant, the sub-committee underscored that it was for the Claimant to prove that the player had not previously been registered as a professional with any other club before being registered as a professional with the Respondent.

10. In this respect, the sub-committee took note that on the one hand, apart from the aforementioned player passports issued by the Football Association F, Football Association H and Football Federation Q, the Claimant provided a confirmation issued by the player, according to which after leaving Club K, he had not been registered with any other club and, on the other hand, that according to the information contained in the TMS, the player, before joining the Respondent, had been registered in Country B (cf. number I./6. above).

11. On account of the above, the sub-committee established that the Claimant failed to provide an accurate and complete footballing career history of the player, in spite of having been invited to do so.

12. Therefore, the sub-committee decided that it could not be established that the player was registered for the first time as a professional with the Respondent.

13. Consequently, and in view of all of the above considerations, the sub-committee decided that the claim of the Claimant must be rejected.

14. Lastly, the sub-committee referred to art. 25 par. 2 of the Regulations in combination with art. 18 par. 1 of the Procedural Rules, according to which, in proceedings before the DRC relating to disputes regarding training compensation costs in the maximum amount of CHF 25,000 are levied. It is further stipulated that the costs are to be borne in consideration of the parties’ degree of success in the proceedings and that, in accordance with Annex A of the Procedural Rules, the costs of the proceedings are to be levied on the basis of the amount in dispute.

15. In respect of the above, the sub-committee held that the amount to be taken into consideration in the present proceedings is EUR 42,916.67 related to the claim of the Claimant. Consequently, the sub-committee concluded that the maximum amount of costs of the proceedings corresponds to CHF 5,000 (cf. table in Annex A).

16. As a result, and taking into account that the claim of the Claimant has been rejected as well as that the case at hand did not compose any complex factual or legal issues, the sub-committee determined the costs of the current proceedings to the amount of CHF 3,000, which shall be borne by the Claimant.

III. Decision of the sub-committee of the DRC

1. The claim of the Claimant, Club A, is rejected.

2. The final costs of the proceedings in the amount of CHF 3,000 are to be paid by the Claimant, within 30 days as from the date of notification of the present decision, to FIFA to the following bank account with reference to case no. XXX:

UBS Zurich

Account number 366.677.01U (FIFA Players’ Status)

Clearing number 230

IBAN: CH 27 0023 0230 3666 7701U

SWIFT: UBSWCHZH80A

*****

Note relating to the motivated decision (legal remedy):

According to art. 58 par. 1 of the FIFA Statutes, this decision may be appealed against before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The statement of appeal must be sent to the CAS directly within 21 days of receipt of notification of this decision and shall contain all the elements in accordance with point 2 of the directives issued by the CAS, a copy of which we enclose hereto. Within another 10 days following the expiry of the time limit for filing the statement of appeal, the appellant shall file a brief stating the facts and legal arguments giving rise to the appeal with the CAS (cf. point 4 of the directives).

The full address and contact numbers of the CAS are the following:

Court of Arbitration for Sport

Avenue de Beaumont 2

1012 Lausanne

Country R

Tel: +41 21 613 50 00

Fax: +41 21 613 50 01

e-mail: info@tas-cas.org

For the sub-committee of the DRC:

Omar Ongaro

Training compensation for the player, Player E

(Club A, Country B / Club C, Country D) 7

Football Regulatory Director

Enclosed: CAS directives

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