According to the well-known jurisprudence of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS 2003/O/486 Fulham v. Olympique Lyonnais), decisions of financial nature are not enforceable when an appeal is pending at the CAS. Nevertheless, a Russian club, FC Rubin Kazan, decided to pay an amount of compensation for a unilateral breach of employment contract with the player Dmitri Torbinski, despite the decision of the Dispute Resolution Chamber of the Football Union of Russia (FUR), that awarded the compensation, being appealed at the Court of Arbitration for Sport. The CAS ruled that the amount of compensation shall be reduced, however the Player rejected the Club’s claim for reimbursement of the excessively paid amount, saying it was not refundable according to Russian employment law.
The background facts
On 26 June 2014, the FUR Dispute Resolution Chamber (DRC) satisfied the claim of the Player against FC Rubin and obliged the Club to pay the Player a compensation for premature unilateral termination of the employment contract without just cause in the amount of EUR 1,500,000, payable in Russian rubles at an exchange rate of the Central Bank of Russia on the day of payment. The DRC decision was confirmed by the FUR Player’s Status Committee and, thus, came into force.
The Club filed an appeal with the CAS.
At the same time, trying to avoid risks of license rejection, the Club voluntarily paid the amount of compensation that was awarded by the FUR DRC.
Later on, the CAS issued a decision which ruled that the amount of compensation shall be reduced by 15%. Thus, the Player had to return EUR 225,000 to the Club.
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