Facts
The Brazilian football player [X.] (Complainant 1) initially played for the Italian club FC [D.] , before signing a five-year contract with the Ukrainian football club FC [B.] (Respondent 1) on June 26, 2004. On July 2, 2007, [X.] terminated the contract prematurely, whereupon FC [B.] initiated proceedings before the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber. This awarded FC [B.] compensation of EUR 6.8 million.
Both [X.] and FC [B.] appealed against this decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). In the arbitral award dated May 19, 2009, the CAS obliged [X.] and the Spanish football club FC [A.] (Complainant 2) to pay FC [B.] jointly and severally EUR 11,858,934 plus interest at 5% from July 5, 2007.
[X.] and FC [A.] filed an appeal against this arbitral award with the Swiss Federal Supreme Court.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court dismissed the appeal to the extent that it was admissible. It stated that the appellants were unable to demonstrate a violation of the right to be heard (Art. 190(2)(d) PILA). The CAS had sufficiently heard the parties on the question of the applicable law, even though it ultimately applied the FIFA Transfer Regulations instead of the Ukrainian law invoked by the appellants.
Nor did the appellants' allegations that the CAS had violated public policy (Art. 190(2)(e) PILA) prove to be justified. The Federal Supreme…