Solidarity Contribution
Texto da decisão
Decision of the
Dispute Resolution Chamber
passed in Zurich, Switzerland, on 27 August 2009,
in the following composition:
Slim Aloulou (Tunisia), Chairman
Mario Gallavotti (Italy), member
Theo van Seggelen (Netherlands), member
on a claim presented by the club
E,
as “Claimant”
against the club
M,
as “Respondent”
regarding a solidarity contribution dispute related to the
transfer of the player T.
I.
Facts of the case
1.
The S club E (hereinafter: the Claimant) stated that according to the S internal
membership register, the player, T (hereinafter: the Player), born on 31 July 1987,
was registered with the Claimant as from 1 April 1999 until 31 March 2002 as an
amateur.
2.
According to the S Football Association, there is apparently no official registration
of the Player with the Claimant for those years, as the youth registration of
players, starting at the age of 12 had not begun in Sweden in the years 1999 to
2001.
3.
The season in the S Football Association runs from 1 January until 31 December of
the following years.
4.
The player was registered with the F club M (hereinafter: the Respondent) on 31
July 2007.
5.
On 13 June 2008, the Claimant contacted FIFA via its Association claiming its
proportion of solidarity contribution in connection with the transfer of the Player
from the S club H to the Respondent, on 30 July 2007.
6.
As a result, the Claimant requests the amount of EUR 8’418.
7.
The Respondent, requested an official confirmation indicating the Player’s
registration with the Claimant for the years from 1999 until 2002.
8.
The Claimant stressed once again that there was no official youth registration in
Sweden at the time of the Player’s 12th to 14th birthday, when he was apparently
registered with its club.
9.
This has once more been confirmed by the S Football Association, who stated that
the registration of youth players from the age of 12 until 14 commenced in the
year 2002 in connection with the new FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer
of Players.
10.
Furthermore, the Claimant enclosed a letter of the Player’s current club, Z, with a
calculation of the alleged entitlement of the solidarity contribution for the
Claimant. The Claimant explained that this is the only external evidence it can
provide.
11.
In its final position, the Respondent insisted to be provided with official
documents confirming the Player’s registration with the Claimant.
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II.
Considerations of the Dispute Resolution Chamber
1.
First of all, the Dispute Resolution Chamber analysed whether it was competent to
deal with the matter at stake. The present matter was submitted to FIFA on 13
June 2008, as a consequence the Rules Governing the Procedures of the Players’
Status Committee and the Dispute Resolution Chamber (edition 2005; hereinafter:
Procedural Rules) are applicable to the matter at hand (cf. art. 18 par. 2 and 3 of
the Procedural Rules and art. 21 par. 3 of the 2008 edition of the Rules Governing
the Procedures of the Players’ Status Committee and the Dispute Resolution
Chamber).
2.
With regard to the competence of the Chamber, art. 3 par. 1 of the abovementioned Rules states that the Dispute Resolution Chamber shall examine its
jurisdiction in the light of art. 24 par. 1 and 2 in combination with art. 22 lit. (e) of
the Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players (edition 2008) the Dispute
Resolution Chamber is competent to decide on the present litigation concerning
the distribution of the solidarity contribution claimed by the Claimant in
connection with the transfer of the professional T between two clubs belonging
to different associations.
3.
Subsequently and considering that the player was registered with the Respondent
on 31 July 2007, the members of the Chamber analyzed 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 2008) and considering that the present claim was lodged on 13
June 2008, the previous version of the Regulations for the Status and Transfer of
Players (edition 2005; hereinafter: the Regulations) is applicable to the matter at
hand as to the substance.
4.
The competence of the Chamber and the applicable regulations having been
established, the Chamber entered into the substance of the matter. This is, the
members of the Chamber started by acknowledging the above-mentioned facts
and documentation contained in the file.
5.
In this respect, the members of the Chamber took due note that, on the one hand,
the Claimant demands its proportion of solidarity contribution in connection with
the transfer of the Player from the S club, H, to the Respondent.
6.
On the other hand, the Chamber noticed that the Respondent did, in particular,
recognize that the Claimant could be entitled to receive the solidarity contribution
for the above-mentioned transfer of the player to its club. However, the
Respondent, insisted to be provided with official documents confirming the
Player’s registration with the Claimant during the years of his 12th to 14th birthday.
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7.
In this context, the Dispute Resolution Chamber emphasized that in accordance
with the legal principle of the burden of proof, which is a basic principle in every
legal system, a party asserting a fact has the obligation to prove the same (cf. art.
12 par. 3 of the Procedural Rules).
8.
Equally, the Dispute Resolution Chamber referred to art. 2 par. 2 of Annex 5 of the
Regulations in connection with art. 7 of the Regulations, and acknowledged that
there is no official registration of the player with the Claimant for the relevant
years due to the fact that in accordance with the Swedish Football Association, the
registration of youth players from the age of 12 until 14 commenced in the year
2002.
9.
In view of the above and considering that it was impossible to establish officially
the registration of the player in question for the Claimant, the Chamber decided
to reject the claim of the Claimant against the Respondent for solidarity
contribution in connection with the transfer of the player T.
III.
Decision of the Dispute Resolution Chamber
1.
The claim of the Claimant, the club, E, is rejected.
*****
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Note relating to the motivated decision (legal remedy):
According to article 63 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
Switzerland
Tel: +41 21 613 50 00
Fax: +41 21 613 50 01
e-mail: [email protected]
www.tas-cas.org
For the Dispute Resolution Chamber:
Jérôme Valcke
Secretary General
Encl. CAS directives
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