Player injury insurance payments – An entitlement and jurisdictional dispute between club and player

Former Australian international Brett Holman (Holman) has taken legal action against his former A-League club, namely Brisbane Roar Football Club (Brisbane Roar), alleging the club has not paid him a total insurance claim that he is entitled to after sustaining a permanent injury which ended his playing career.

Background

Holman, who has now retired at age 36, made 38 appearances for the Brisbane Roar in the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 seasons, whilst previously he played for English Premier League side Aston Villa as well as Dutch clubs in the Netherlands Eredivisie league. He was also part of the Australian national team squad at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

Holman filed his civil court statement of claim in the Brisbane District Court (Queensland - Australia) in October 2020 and “alleged that the Brisbane Roar were paid $369,433.26 (approx. EUR 235,000) in insurance money related to his injury, but only paid him $198,456.06 (approx. EUR 127,000) that was owing after he suffered a left knee acute lateral femoral condyle cartilage defect in April 2018 that rendered him unfit to work in the future as a professional footballer.”

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