Jurisdiction of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to Decide Disputes Arising from a Football Player Transfer Contract

Facts

Football Club X. (Appellant) and Football Agency Y. S.à.r.l. (Respondent) concluded an agreement on 19 February 2003 regarding the transfer of Football Player A. Clause 4 of this agreement provided that in the event of disputes, the FIFA Commission or the UEFA Commission shall be competent to decide the legal dispute. When later disagreements arose over the owed transfer fees, the Respondent initiated arbitration proceedings with the FIFA Players' Status Committee. However, this committee declared itself incompetent, as the claimant party was a company and not a natural person. Thereupon, the Respondent requested the High Court of the Canton of Zurich to appoint an arbitrator. The High Court appointed a sole arbitrator, who also declared himself incompetent. Finally, the Respondent filed an arbitration claim with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against the Appellant. The CAS declared itself competent, based on the arbitration clause in the agreement of 19 February 2003, to decide the legal dispute in connection with the transfer of Football Player A. The Appellant then filed a civil law appeal with the Federal Supreme Court, requesting that the CAS's finding of jurisdiction be overturned.

Considerations

The Federal Supreme Court dismissed the appeal. It stated that the wording of Clause 4 of the agreement of 19 February 2003 clearly showed the parties' intention to submit any disputes arising from their contractual relationship not to the state courts, but to a sports organization such as FIFA or UEFA. Even though the specific designation of the competent institution (FIFA Commission or UEFA Commission) proved to be impossible, this was not necessarily…