On 14 July 2017, Villarreal CF transferred-in the Portuguese player Ruben Semedo (Semedo) from Sporting CP paying EUR 15 million. Afterwards, Semedo was firstly accused of aggression in October 2017, was detained for a few hours for threats in November 2017 and, following a third episode occurred on 22 February 2018, he was detained, being accused of attempted murder, injury, kidnapping, criminal possession of weapons and robbery.
Ruben Semedo, Aleksandr Kokorin, Pavel Mamaev, Arda Turan and Nicklas Bendtner represent the most recent examples of football players facing criminal charges.
Besides the criminal repercussions connected with these crimes, football players could face additional employment-related consequences. In this sense, does a players’ arrest authorize clubs to terminate their employment contracts with just cause?
First of all, it should be noted that every national law is different. Therefore, Villarreal CF, Zenit Saint Petersburg, Başakşehir, and Rosenborg BK could come to different decisions in accordance with the respective national legislations.
With reference to Spanish Law, a distinction should be...
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