Player Compensation For ‘Just Cause’ Contract Termination: Lessons From QPR V Boavista CAS Case
This article discusses a recent award published by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) concerning persistent late payment of salaries by Portuguese club Boavista Futebol Clube (Boavista) to player Reginald Jacob Cannon (the Player), and whether such conduct entitled the Player to terminate his contract with just cause.
The case provides helpful guidance on the interplay between national collective bargaining agreements (between players and clubs/leagues) and FIFA's transfer regulations, the calculation of compensation following justified termination and a player’s duty to mitigate losses, and the limited impact of the Diarra (European Court of Justice) judgment on cases involving football players terminating their contract with just cause[1].
Please view the award here[2].
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- Tags: Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) | Dispute Resolution | FIFA | FIFA Regulation on Status and Transfer of Players (FIFA RSTP) | Football | Player Transfers | Portugal | United Kingdom (UK)
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Written by
Elena La Ficara
Elena is a First-Class honours Sports Law & Sports Business graduate from UCFB Wembley, currently undertaking a master’s in Law & Professional Practice at King’s College London. Aspiring to become a sports lawyer, Elena has gained practical experience through involvement in the LawInSport mentoring scheme and an internship at Lombardi Associates. She has further made notable contributions to the field through several publications on sports law. Her fields of interest include Contract Law, EU Law and dispute resolution.
Ian Laing
Ian is an associate at Lombardi Associates. He is a solicitor, qualified in Scotland, and in 2022 received his commission as a Writer to His Majesty’s Signet. Ian was the first Trainee Solicitor in the 500 plus years history of the Society of Writers to His Majesty’s Signet (The WS Society) with his traineeship providing a secondment to Lombardi Association, where he has remained since.
Ian works on a variety of matters for clients across the globe, ranging from transfer contracts, transfer negotiations and employment contracts to disciplinary matters before CAS, FIFA, UEFA, UK Anti-Doping and other regulatory and disciplinary bodies. In addition to this, recent work has involved advising both clubs and investors on investment into football clubs and advising start ups looking to enter the football space.
