Decision in the arbitration Galatasaray v. UEFA
Press Release
15th February 2019
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has issued its decision in the appeal arbitration procedure between the Turkish football club Galatasaray Sportif Sinai ve Ticari Yatirimlar A.Ş. (Galatasaray) and the Union Européenne de Football Association (UEFA).
The appeal filed on 15 October 2018 by Galatasaray against UEFA with respect to the decision rendered by the UEFA Club Financial Control Body Adjudicatory Chamber (UEFA CFCB Adjudicatory Chamber) on 5 October 2018 is upheld.
The decision rendered by the UEFA CFCB Adjudicatory Chamber on 5 October 2018 is set aside. The decision rendered by the Chief Investigator of the UEFA CFCB Investigatory Chamber on 5 June 2018 and the resulting Settlement Agreement are confirmed.
On 5 June 2018, the Chief Investigator of the UEFA CFCB Investigatory Chamber issued a decision in which Galatasaray was found not to be in compliance with the break-even requirement of the UEFA Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play Regulations and a Settlement Agreement was concluded between UEFA and the Club. Later the same month, the UEFA CFCB Chairman determined that the decision and the Settlement Agreement should be reviewed by the UEFA CFCB Adjudicatory Chamber. On 5 October 2018, the UEFA CFCB Adjudicatory Chamber set aside the decision taken by the Chief Investigator of the UEFA CFCB Investigatory Chamber and referred the case back to the Investigatory Chamber for further investigation.
On 15 October 2018, Galatasaray filed an appeal at CAS against the UEFA CFCB Adjudicatory Chamber’s decision (the Challenged Decision). The arbitration procedure was referred to a Sole Arbitrator who examined first Galatasaray’s assertion that the Challenged Decision was rendered untimely.
Having considered the parties’ submissions on the issue of the timeliness of the Challenged Decision, the Sole Arbitrator ruled that the appeal must be upheld and the Challenged Decision of 5 October 2018 set aside, as such Decision was issued beyond the 10-day time limit which starts to run from the date of communication of the decision of the Chief Investigator to the CFCB Chairman, as set out in Article 16 (1) of the Procedural Rules governing the UEFA Club Financial Control Body.
