Football legal
  • Authors
  • About
  • Subscription
  • Contact
  • Login
  • Linkedin
    Twitter
Football-legal
30
Jun
2018
content image
Tim WILMS
Player/Coach Contract
Cases
Netherlands International
Football Legal # 9

Dismissal of a Coach in Dutch Professional Football: Insights of the case Oliseh/Fortuna Sittard


Previous
Next
KNVB Arbitration Tribunal, 5 April 2018, case no. 1473, Sunday Oliseh v. Fortuna Sittard
Date of the decision: 2018-04-05

It is common practice that coaches of Dutch professional football clubs have a fixed-term employment contract that cannot be prematurely terminated by one party. In practice the consequence is that clubs that want to dismiss a coach before his contract expires - e.g. due to bad results - are often obliged to pay a relatively high compensation to the coach. In principle, this compensation should be equal to the amount of salary that would have been due until the expiry date of the original contract term. The court or arbitration panel may, however, reduce such compensation, depending on the circumstances of the case. With regard thereto, the recent decision of the Arbitration Tribunal of the Royal Dutch Football Association (the KNVB Arbitration Tribunal) of 5 April 2018 in the case of the First Division (i.e. the second level in Dutch professional football) club Fortuna Sittard and (former) head coach Sunday Oliseh (hereinafter referred as to Oliseh) is highly relevant.

 

Legal framework coaches

The contractual relationship between Dutch professional football clubs[1] and coaches is governed by the collective bargaining agreement “Trainer Coaches Professional Football 2016-2019” (the CBA). The CBA is applicable to head coaches and assistants of the first team, coaches of second and youth teams, technical directors and head scouts of Dutch professional football clubs. The CBA exempts these persons from the Dutch mandatory provisions on succession of fixed-term employment contracts. Regular employees in the Netherlands may have several - with a maximum of three subsequent - fixed-term employment contracts only during the first two years of employment, otherwise the employment contract is presumed to be open-ended.[2] Professional...

Why not join us?

Football Legal is an independent media publishing football law contents on a daily basis dedicated to all football law practitioners (lawyers, clubs, federations, intermediaries, football stakeholders, etc.).

Register today and stay tuned to the latest legal news.

Get started
Topics
  • Player/Coach Contract
  • Labour disputes
Keywords
  • Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB)
  • Breach of contract
  • Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA)
  • Coach contract
Authored by
Tim WILMS
About Tim WILMS
Contact us | Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy | Cookies policy
© football-legal.com 2025 - All rights reserved