Arabic Version
A- Introduction:
The question of the termination of a professional football player’s contract with just cause is a really important matter that differs from a country to another when the case is submitted to the National Football Association.
The main difference between national football associations exists in the needed conditions to be respected by the player in order to be able to unilaterally terminate his contract with just cause for outstanding salaries.
These differences derive from the fact that article 14.bis of FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Player (FIFA RSTP) is not binding at national level and only serves as an “inspiration” for national football associations.
In this article, I will discuss the procedure to be respected by a Qatari Football player playing in Qatar in order to be able to unilaterally terminate his contract with just cause for outstanding salaries.
First, let’s clarify in which cases Qatar Sports Arbitration Tribunal “QSAT” will be competent to hear and adjudicate a contractual dispute arising from a contract between a professional football player and his Qatari Club.
B- The Competence of the Qatar Sports Arbitration Tribunal
According to Article 9 of QSAT Statutes, “In order for the Statutes, the Arbitration Rules, the Mediation Rules and the Regulations to be applicable, the federation, association or other sports body, or a specific written agreement, must specifically provide for arbitration or mediation in relation to sports-related disputes including disputes arising between such sports bodies and its members, pursuant to the Statutes and/or the Arbitration Rules, Mediation Rules or Regulations.”
According to Paragraph 2 of Article 1 of QSAT Arbitration Rules, “The agreement, submission or reference providing for arbitration before the QSAT may arise out of an arbitration clause contained in a contract or regulations, or by reason of an ad hoc arbitration agreement subsequent to the dispute having arisen (“ordinary arbitration proceedings”) or may involve an appeal from a decision rendered by any federation, association or sports-related body, if the statutes or regulations governing such bodies provide for an appeal before the QSAT (appeals arbitration proceedings)”
According to Article 3 of the Competition Regulations of QNB Stars League 2021/2022, clubs shall recognize the QSAT.
According to paragraph 1 of Article 62 of the Qatar Football Association Statutes, “The QFA recognizes the jurisdiction of the independent Qatar Sports Arbitration Tribunal (QSAT):
a) to resolve all disputes between QFA, its Members, Players, Officials, Intermediaries affiliated to/registered with/licensed by the QFA at the time that the dispute arose (internal national disputes), except those cases specifically excluded in the Statutes or relevant regulations of the QFA.”
According to Article 63 of the Qatar Football Association Statutes, “1. The QFA, its Members, Players, Officials and intermediaries will not take any dispute arising between them to the Ordinary Courts unless these Statutes, the FIFA Regulations or binding legal provisions specifically provide for or stipulate recourse to ordinary courts of law. Instead of recourse to ordinary courts, any disagreement shall be submitted to the jurisdiction of the QFA and/or the QSAT.
2. The QFA and/or the QSAT shall have jurisdiction on disputes between parties belonging to the QFA at the time that the dispute arose (internal national disputes). FIFA shall have jurisdiction on disputes between parties belonging to different National Associations and/or Confederations at the time the dispute arose (international disputes).”
The first case is when the player is registered as a Qatari Football Player and his contract gives jurisdiction to QSAT to hear and adjudicate a contractual dispute arising from the contract between the Qatari professional football player and his Qatari Football Club.
The second case is when the player is registered as a Qatari Football Player and his contract doesn’t stipulate that QSAT is competent to hear and adjudicate a contractual dispute arising from the contract between the Qatari Professional football player and his Qatari Football Club.
The third case is when the foreign professional football player playing with a Qatari Football Club has in his employment contract with his club an arbitration clause or signed an arbitration agreement subsequent to the signature of his professional player contract giving jurisdiction to the QSAT.
C- The conditions to be respected by the Qatari Professional Football Player to unilaterally terminate his contract with his Qatari club with just cause for outstanding salaries:
According to Article 26 of Qatar Football Association Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players “QFA RSTP”, “1. A contract may be terminated by either party without consequences of any kind (either payment of compensation or imposition of sporting sanctions) where there is just cause.
2. Subject to each particular case, players, who do not fall under the competence of FIFA Committees/Chambers, may have just cause for terminating an employment contract provided that:
a) a member club has persistently omitted to pay a player (at least 60 days as of the date of due payment) his financial rights of substantial nature (equivalent in total to at least two monthly salaries) as per the relevant employment contract(s) approved by QFA and/or QSLM;
b) The player concerned via written notice put the member club in default and requested payment within a time-limit of not less than 10 days; and
c) Payment has not been made within such time-limit and the player via written notice gave a final dead-line of not less than 5 days to the member club to settle the outstanding payments. Upon expiry of the final time-limit without payment and subject to the overall circumstances of each particular case, just cause for terminating the employment contract without consequences as per the present Regulations may be at stake.”
We conclude that QFA RSTP is similar to FIFA RSTP concerning the number of outstanding monthly salaries as both require from the player to have at least two outstanding monthly salaries to be able to terminate his contract with just cause.
However, there are few differences: The first one is in the deadline to be given to the club before sending the notice of default: According to QFA RSTP, the deadline is at least 60 days as of the date of due payment, whereas FIFA RSTP doesn’t require any deadline. In other terms, according to FIFA RSTP the player can send a written notice of default to the club once two monthly salaries are due and unpaid.
Other differences are in the number of written notices of default and the required deadlines in these notices.
According to FIFA RSTP, the player shall send one written notice of default giving a deadline of at least 15 days to the club to comply with its financial obligations towards the player, whereas according to QFA RSTP, the player shall send to the club two written notices of default. The first written notice of default shall give to the club a deadline of at least 10 days to comply with its financial obligations towards the player. The second written notice of default shall be sent only in case the club doesn’t pay during the deadline given by the first written notice of default and shall give the club a deadline of at least 5 days to comply with its financial obligations towards the player. Then, if the club failed to pay, the player will be able to unilaterally terminate his contract with just cause.
D- Consequences of terminating a contract with just cause:
According to article 29 of QFA RSTP, “The following provisions apply if a contract is terminated without just cause:
1. In all cases, the party in breach shall pay compensation. Subject to the provisions of Article 22 and Annexe 1 in relation to training compensation, and unless otherwise provided for in the contract, compensation for the breach shall be calculated with due consideration for the law of the State of Qatar, the specificity of sport, and any other objective criteria. These criteria shall include, in particular, the remuneration and other benefits due to the player under the existing contract and/or the new contract, the time remaining on the existing contract up to a maximum of five years, the fees and expenses paid or incurred by the former club (amortised over the term of the contract) and whether the contractual breach falls within a protected period.
2. Taking into consideration the above principles, the compensation due to the player shall be calculated as follows:
a) In the event that the player did not enter into a new contract after the termination of his previous contract, as a general rule, the compensation is equal to the remaining value of the contract that was terminated prematurely.
b) In the event that the player entered into a new contract by the time of the decision, the value of the new contract for the period equal to the remaining time of the contract that was terminated prematurely will be deducted from the remaining value of the contract that was terminated early (reduced compensation). Moreover, the matter is subject to early termination of the contract and the amounts owed, in addition to the reduced compensation, the player is entitled to an amount equal to three months' salary (overtime compensation). In the event of flagrant circumstances, the additional compensation may be increased to a maximum of 6 months' salary. The total compensation should not exceed the residual value of the premature terminated contract.
3. Entitlement to compensation cannot be assigned to a third party. If a professional is required to pay compensation, the professional and his new member club shall be jointly and severally liable for its payment. The amount may be stipulated in the contract or agreed between the parties.
4. In addition to the obligation to pay compensation, sporting sanctions may be imposed on players according to the following principles:
a) QFA may refer any player found to be in breach of contract during the protected period to the judicial bodies of the QFA which may impose in accordance with the QFA Disciplinary Code disciplinary sanctions which can exclusively be a warning, a fine and/or a restriction on playing in official matches for a period up to a maximum of six (6) months. These sporting sanctions shall take effect immediately once the player has been notified of the relevant decision.
b) The sporting sanctions shall remain suspended in the period between the last official match of the season and the first official match of the next season, in both case including national cups and international championship for clubs.
c) Unilateral breach without just cause or sporting just cause after the protected period shall not result in disciplinary sanctions.
d) Disciplinary measures may, however, be imposed outside the protected period for failure to give notice of termination within 15 days of the last official match of the season (including national cups) of the club with which the player is registered. The protected period starts again when, while renewing the contract, the duration of the previous contract is extended.
5. In addition to the obligation to pay compensation, sporting sanctions may be imposed on member clubs according to the following principles:
a) QFA may refer any member club found to be in breach of contract or found to be inducing a breach of contract during the protected period to the judicial bodies of the QFA which may impose in accordance with the QFA Disciplinary Code disciplinary sanctions which can exclusively be a warning, a fine, deduction or cancellation of points, relegation to a lower division and/or a ban from registering any new players, either nationally or internationally, for two entire and consecutive registration periods.
b) In the latter case, the member club may be able to register new players only as of the next registration period following the complete serving of the relevant disciplinary sanction. In particular, it may not make use of the exception and the provisional measures stipulated in Article 6 paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 of these Regulations in order to register players at an earlier stage.
c) It shall be presumed, unless established to the contrary, that any member club signing a professional who has terminated his contract without just cause has induced that professional to commit a breach.
6. Any person subject to the QFA Statutes and regulations who acts in a manner designed to induce a breach of contract between a professional and a club in order to facilitate the transfer of the player may be subject to disciplinary sanctions.”
This article is similar to article 17 of the FIFA RSTP which states that: “The following provisions apply if a contract is terminated without just cause:
1.In all cases, the party in breach shall pay compensation. Subject to the provisions of article 20 and Annexe 4 in relation to training compensation, and unless otherwise provided for in the contract, compensation for the breach shall be calculated with due consideration for the law of the country concerned, the specificity of sport, and any other objective criteria. These criteria shall include, in particular, the remuneration and other benefits due to the player under the existing contract and/or the new contract, the time remaining on the existing contract up to a maximum of five years, the fees and expenses paid or incurred by the former club (amortised over the term of the contract) and whether the contractual breach falls within a protected period.
Bearing in mind the aforementioned principles, compensation due to a player shall be calculated as follows:
i. in case the player did not sign any new contract following the termination of his previous contract, as a general rule, the compensation shall be equal to the residual value of the contract that was prematurely terminated;
ii. in case the player signed a new contract by the time of the decision, the value of the new contract for the period corresponding to the time remaining on the prematurely terminated contract shall be deducted from the residual value of the contract that was terminated early (the “Mitigated Compensation”). Furthermore, and subject to the early termination of the contract being due to overdue payables, in addition to the Mitigated Compensation, the player shall be entitled to an amount corresponding to three monthly salaries (the “Additional Compensation”). In case of egregious circumstances, the Additional Compensation may be increased up to a maximum of six monthly salaries. The overall compensation may never exceed the rest value of the prematurely terminated contract.
iii. Collective bargaining agreements validly negotiated by employers’ and employees’ representatives at domestic level in accordance with national law may deviate from the principles stipulated in the points i. and ii. above. The terms of such an agreement shall prevail.
2. Entitlement to compensation cannot be assigned to a third party. If a professional is required to pay compensation, the professional and his new club shall be jointly and severally liable for its payment. The amount may be stipulated in the contract or agreed between the parties.
3. In addition to the obligation to pay compensation, sporting sanctions shall also be imposed on any player found to be in breach of contract during the protected period. This sanction shall be a four-month restriction on playing in official matches. In the case of aggravating circumstances, the restriction shall last six months. These sporting sanctions shall take effect immediately once the player has been notified of the relevant decision. The sporting sanctions shall remain suspended in the period between the last official match of the season and the first official match of the next season, in both cases including national cups and international championships for clubs. This suspension of the sporting sanctions shall, however, not be applicable if the player is an established member of the representative team of the association he is eligible to represent, and the association concerned is participating in the final competition of an international tournament in the period between the last match and the first match of the next season. Unilateral breach without just cause or sporting just cause after the protected period shall not result in sporting sanctions. Disciplinary measures may, however, be imposed outside the protected period for failure to give notice of termination within 15 days of the last official match of the season (including national cups) of the club with which the player is registered. The protected period starts again when, while renewing the contract, the duration of the previous contract is extended.
4. In addition to the obligation to pay compensation, sporting sanctions shall be imposed on any club found to be in breach of contract or found to be inducing a breach of contract during the protected period. It shall be presumed, unless established to the contrary, that any club signing a professional who has terminated his contract without just cause has induced that professional to commit a breach. The club shall be banned from registering any new players, either nationally or internationally, for two entire and consecutive registration periods. The club shall be able to register new players, either nationally or internationally, only as of the next registration period following the complete serving of the relevant sporting sanction. In particular, it may not make use of the exception and the provisional measures stipulated in article 6 paragraph 1 of these regulations in order to register players at an earlier stage.
5. Any person subject to the FIFA Statutes and regulations who acts in a manner designed to induce a breach of contract between a professional and a club in order to facilitate the transfer of the player shall be sanctioned.”
E- The Awards rendered by QSAT are final and binding:
According to paragraph 4 of Article 62 of QFA Statutes, “All awards passed by the QSAT shall be final and binding and not subject to appeals to the CAS.”
According to paragraph 1 of Article 42 of the Arbitration Rules of QSAT, “The Panel shall make its award in writing and shall state the reasons upon which the award is based. The award shall be final and binding once the General Secretariat communicates the award to the parties.”
F- Conclusion:
We can conclude that the main difference between Qatar Football Association (QFA) RSTP and FIFA RSTP regarding the unilateral termination of the professional football player’s contract with just cause is in the conditions that have to be respected by the Player in order to unilaterally terminate his contract with just cause when he has outstanding salaries. On the other hand, the consequences of the unilateral termination of the contract with just cause by the Player in QFA RSTP are very similar to FIFA RSTP consequences.
In summary, Qatar has not only organized brilliantly big sports event but also has developed Sports Law and Arbitration according to the highest international standards.
