FIFA, by means of the Circular Letter no. 1625, informed its member associations of important amendments to the FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players (RSTP) approved by the FIFA Council on 16 March 2018. Among other modifications, FIFA introduced the new Article 14bis of the FIFA RSTP, which is dedicated to address the specific circumstance of “Terminating a contract with just cause for outstanding salaries”. Article 14bis par. 3 establishes that the principles may be deviated by “Collective bargaining agreements validly negotiated by employers' and employees' representatives at domestic level in accordance with national law”, which shall prevail. In this regards, the Spanish collective bargaining agreement (CBA) currently in force and signed by the Spanish association of the professional football clubs (LNFP) and the Spanish trade union of professional football players (AFE), shall prevail over Article 14bis of the FIFA RSTP.
The Circular Letter no. 1625 introduced the new Article 14bis of the FIFA RSTP, which is dedicated to address the specific circumstance of “Terminating a contract with just cause for outstanding salaries”. This provision came into force on 1 June 2018. Nevertheless, alternative provisions established in contracts existing at the time of Article 14bis coming into force may be considered.
The new Article 14bis provides legal security to the different interpretations the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber (FIFA DRC) jurisprudence has established during the years. Indeed, the FIFA DRC jurisprudence considered, as a general rule, that “Under normal circumstances, only a few weeks’ delay in paying a salary would not justify the termination of an employment contract”,[1] while a period of more than three consecutive months justified the...
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