F.I.F.A. – Dispute Resolution Chamber / Camera di Risoluzione delle Controversie – solidarity contribution / contributo di solidarietà – (2020-2021) – fifa.com – atto non ufficiale – Decision 18 November 2020

Decision of the

Single Judge of the sub-committee of

The Dispute Resolution Chamber

passed on 18 November 2020

regarding solidarity contribution for the transfer of the player Giuliano Victor De Paula

BY:

Stefano Sartori (Italy), Single Judge of the sub-committee of the Dispute Resolution Chamber

CLAIMANT:

Parana Clube, Brazil

RESPONDENT:

Al Nassr, Saudi Arabia

I. FACTS OF THE CASE

Player: Giuliano Victor De Paula

Date of birth: 31 May 1990

Player passport: issued by the Confederação Brasileira de Futebol (“CBF”) on 24 August 2016

Season

Birthday

Club

Registration

Status

2002

12th

Parana Clube

01.01.2002-31.12.2002

Amateur

2003

13th

Parana Clube

01.01.2003-31.12.2003

Professional

2004

14th

Parana Clube

01.01.2004-31.12.2004

Professional

2005

15th

Parana Clube

01.01.2005-31.12.2005

Professional

2006

16th

Parana Clube

01.01.2006-31.12.2006

Professional

2007

17th

Parana Clube

01.01.2007-31.12.2007

Professional

2008

18th

Parana Clube

01.01.2008-31.12.2008

Professional

Sporting season: 1 January to 31 December

Date of transfer: 23 August 2018, Fenerbahce SK (Turkey) to Al Nassr (Saudi Arabia)

Financial conditions:

- EUR 10,500,000 payable as follows:

 EUR 5,000,000 on or before 6 September 2018;

 EUR 3,500,000 on or before 28 February 2019; and

 EUR 2,000,000 on or before 1 October 2019.

- article 2.3 of the transfer agreement provided the following:

“In addition to the Transfer Fee mentioned above, [Fenerbahce SK, i.e. the former club] is entitled to receive the following amounts in the following cases (with a maximum total amount of EUR 500,000):

- An amount of EUR 250,000 in case that [the Respondent] finishes in the top three places in the Saudi League whilst the Player is registered with [the Respondent];

- An amount of EUR 250,000 in case that the player scores and/or assists more than 15 goals in all the official matches that [the Respondent] plays in one football season”.

Claimant club: Parana Clube (Brazil)

Respondent club: Al Nassr (Saudi Arabia)

Claim and Response:

1. On 11 August 2020, the Claimant lodged a claim for solidarity contribution against the Respondent requesting the payment of solidarity contribution on the third instalment and on the bonus due as per the transfer agreement. The Claimant requested the payment of “EUR 62,500 in connection with the third instalment of the transfer fee and the bonus paid by the Respondent in the transfer of the mentioned player”, corresponding to 50% of the solidarity contribution over the amount of EUR 2,500,000 (amount composed of EUR 2,000,000 in respect of the third instalment of the transfer fee, and EUR 500,000 in respect of the conditional payments), plus 5% interest p.a. as from the due date.

2. The Respondent had already paid to the Claimant the sum of EUR 212.500 as solidarity contribution in respect of the first and the second instalment.

3. On 7 September 2020, the FIFA administration made a proposal to the parties to the settle the matter suggesting that the Respondent should pay the Claimant the sum of EUR 50,000 as solidarity contribution, plus 5% interests p.a. as from the due date.

4. The proposal was rejected by the Claimant and the Respondent.

5. On 8 September 2020, the Claimant insisted that the conditions triggering the conditional payments as set out in the transfer agreement, had been duly fulfilled and provided several printouts from the internet referring to the Respondent’s first and second place in the Saudi League at the end of the 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 season which also indicated that the player had scored and/or assisted more than 15 goals in all the official matches that Al Nassr played in the 2018/2019 season and in the 2019/2020 season.

6. The Respondent partially rejected the claim arguing that only the amount of EUR 50,000 was to be paid to the Claimant and that interests should only be counted as of the date of the claim or, in the alternative, in accordance with Swiss Law.

7. The Respondent was of the opinion that the Claimant had failed to prove that the bonus had become due.

8. In addition, the Respondent requested for the documentation provided by the Claimant to be disregarded in line with the proposal submitted by the FIFA Administration, in accordance with which the latter was “limited only to accept or reject the proposal, excluding hereby any possibility to amend its original claim”.

9. Alternatively, the Respondent deemed that the Claimant had failed to prove that the player had scored 15 goals “given that the alleged stats provided by the Claimant fail to indicate if and which column corresponds to goals or assistances by the player”.

II. LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS

Applicable law: RSTP: June 2018 edition.

Procedural Rules: June 2020 edition.

Jurisdiction: Yes, uncontested

Admissible: Yes, uncontested

Decision:

10. The Claimant did not amend its claim after having received the proposal of the FIFA administration but only provided additional evidence before closure of the investigation phase in the sense of art. 9 par 4 of the Procedural Rules.

11. However it remains undisputed that, according to the evidence provided by the Claimant in its rejection of FIFA’s proposal, the Respondent finished in the top three places in the Saudi League whilst the player was registered with it, i.e. at the end of the 2018/2019 season and the 2019/2020 season. As such, without having to analyse whether or not the Claimant provided sufficient and conclusive evidence as to the number of goals scored by the player during its period of registration with the Respondent, the conditional payment in the amount of EUR 500,000 (EUR 250,000 for each season) fell due.

12. Moreover, from the Respondent’s comments on said evidence, it can be understood that it does not properly contest the occurrence of the event(s) triggering the bonuses.

13. The Claimant is entitled to receive, as solidarity contribution for the player, 50% of the 5% solidarity contribution over the amount of the third instalment of the transfer compensation and the conditional payments, i.e. 50% of 5% of EUR 2,500,000.

14. The Claimant is entitled to EUR 62,500 as solidarity contribution.

15. In accordance with the established jurisprudence of the DRC an interest rate of 5% p.a. is to be applied as from the day after the relevant due date of each instalment.

16. The third instalment was payable on 1 October 2019. According to the information included in TMS, the seasons 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 ended on 31 May 2019 and 30 May 2020 respectively.

17. As such, the Claimant is entitled to receive 5% interests p.a. until the date of effective payment as follows:

- on the amount of EUR 50,000 as from 1 November 2019;

- on the amount of EUR 6,250 as from 1 July 2019 ;

- on the amount of EUR 6,250 as from 30 June 2020.

18. Art. 24 bis is applicable.

DECISION

1. The claim of the Claimant, Parana Clube, is accepted.

2. The Respondent, Al Nassr, shall pay to the Claimant EUR 62,500 as solidarity contribution, plus 5% interest per annum, until the date of effective payment, as follows:

- on the amount of EUR 50,000 as from 1 November 2019;

- on the amount of EUR 6,250 as from 1 July 2019;

- on the amount of EUR 6,250 as from 30 June 2020.

3. The Respondent shall provide evidence of payment of the due amount in accordance with this decision to chhelpdesk@fifa.org, duly translated, if applicable, into one of the official FIFA languages (English, French, German, Spanish).

4. In the event that the amount due, plus interest as established above is not paid by the Respondent within 45 days, as from the notification by the Claimant of the relevant bank details to the Respondent, the following consequences shall arise:

 1.

The Respondent shall be banned from registering any new players, either nationally or internationally, up until the due amount is paid and for the maximum duration of three entire and consecutive registration periods. The aforementioned ban mentioned will be lifted immediately and prior to its complete serving, once the due amount is paid.

(cf. art. 24bis of the Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players). 2.

In the event that the payable amount as per in this decision is still not paid by the end of the ban of three entire and consecutive registration periods, the present matter shall be submitted, upon request, to the FIFA Disciplinary Committee.

5. No procedural costs are payable (cf. arts. 17 par. 1 and 18 par. 1 of the Rules Governing the Procedure of the Players’ Status Committee and Dispute Resolution Chamber).

For the Single Judge of the sub-committee of the Dispute Resolution Chamber:

Emilio García Silvero

Chief Legal & Compliance Officer

NOTE RELATED TO THE APPEAL PROCEDURE:

Pursuant to article 58 paragraph 1 of the FIFA Statutes, this decision may be appealed before the Court of Arbitration for Sport within 21 days of notification.

NOTE RELATED TO PUBLICATION:

FIFA may publish this decision. For reasons of confidentiality, FIFA may decide, at the request of a party within five days of the notification of the motivated decision, to publish an anonymised or a redacted version (cf. article 20 of the Procedural Rules).

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Fédération Internationale de Football Association

FIFA-Strasse 20 P.O. Box 8044 Zurich Switzerland

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