In the case of the Bosnian player, Ermin Zec, against the Turkish club, Balikesirspor FC, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) confirmed the validity of an automatic salary reduction clause in case the club’s first team was relegated to a lower division. The award, dated 10 March 2017, is also interesting as the Panel exercised its right under Article R57 in conjunction with Article R44.3 of the CAS Code to supplement the presentation of the club by ordering the player to produce his new contract in the 2016/2017 season.
Brief facts
The parties signed a contract, valid from 23 January 2015 until 31 May 2018. They agreed, inter alia, that, in case the club’s first team was relegated to a lower tier, “the contract will be reduced” to 50% “per season”.
In May 2015, when it was already clear that the club’s first team would be demoted to the lower division on sporting merits, the club fell into arrears of payments to the player in an amount exceeding two monthly salaries (but less than three monthly salaries).
After having put the club in default as to the outstanding salaries, which went unanswered by the club, on 2 June 2015, the player unilaterally terminated the contract and took the dispute with the club to FIFA.
The FIFA decision
On 28 January 2016, FIFA decided that the player had just cause to terminate the contract and thus, the club was liable to pay compensation for the...
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