We have already outlined this case in this Journal.* It started out as a cooperation agreement between a Walloon football club and a private Maltese company, in spite of the FIFA ban on TPO third-party ownership/investment (TPO/TPI contracts). The case is still pending before the Brussels Court of Appeal, which on 29 August 2018 handed down a particularly interesting decision.
* L. Misson & G. Dujardin, “The Belgian saga of the validity of third-party ownership/investment continues…”, Football Legal # 5 (June 2016), p. 76.
This Belgian court reopened the discussion of a specific question, requiring the parties to give their opinions on this topic rather than on the substance of the case. Furthermore, the arguments of the parties which went beyond this issue were set aside by the Court of Appeal.
The question relates to the validity and legality of the arbitration clause set out in general terms and focusing on the ban on taking the case before the State courts.
In fact, the URBSFA, UEFA, and FIFA have put forward an arbitration exception in application of their statutory regulations requiring...
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