Moving a player to the reserves.
Currently, there is a proceeding before the Dispute Resolution Chamber of the Polish Football Association initiated by Radosław Cierzniak, a player from Wisła Kraków, who has requested the Chamber to terminate the contract due to the club's fault. A favorable outcome for the player in this dispute could influence the roster policy of Polish clubs. Why? That's what we'll discuss in today's post.
To shed some light on the matter, the player from Wisła Kraków is bound by a contract with the team that expires at the end of June of the current year. According to the currently applicable regulations 1)§ 21 para. 5 Resolution No. VIII/124 of July 14, 2015, of the Management Board of the Polish Football Association regarding the status of players and the rules of changing club affiliation, art. 4 para. 2 lit. c Resolution of March 27, 2015, of the Management Board of the Polish Football Association on the minimum requirements for standard player contracts in the professional football sector, a player can sign a contract with another club if his current contract or amateur player declaration expires or will expire within six months.
Since January of this year, the player had the right to sign a contract with another club, which he exercised by signing a contract with Legia Warsaw. Shortly after the announcement of the new contract, the player was moved to the reserve team.
Moving a player who refuses to extend his contract or has signed with another club is not a new phenomenon in Polish (and not only Polish) football reality. In the current transfer window, besides the aforementioned player, several other players from the Ekstraklasa were also transferred to the reserve team (e.g., Flavio Paixao), with the majority of cases involving agreements reached between the clubs and players being transferred between teams.
It is worth mentioning that recently the Dispute Resolution Chamber of the Polish Football Association considered a case from a request by a player from Jagiellonia Białystok, who demanded the termination of his contract, claiming that his demotion to the reserve team was a result of refusing to extend the contract. However, as reported in the press, in that particular case, the Chamber did not share the player's position, stating that his demotion to the reserve team was justified by sporting reasons (the ruling is not final). The Chamber did not decide on the essence of the problem, meaning it did not address the legality of the player's demotion to the reserve team when this decision is not based on the player's sporting form or physical condition. Therefore, if, in the mentioned dispute, the Chamber establishes that the player was moved to the reserves as a "punishment" for signing a contract with another club, it will have to decide whether the club acted in accordance with the regulations or violated the player's rights. How does this issue look in the light of the current regulations?
Attention should be paid to the provisions of the Resolution of the Management Board of the Polish Football Association of March 27, 2015 - minimum requirements for standard player contracts in the professional football sector Article 6 para. 4:
The contract should include:
(..)
c. ensuring the Player conditions for improving sporting qualifications, in particular by enabling him to participate in team training sessions, unless a different way of improving the Player's qualifications would be dictated by justified objective sporting reasons,h. the Club's obligation to comply with the provisions concerning human rights, including the Player's right to freedom of expression within the protection of his legitimate interest and the prohibition of discrimination against the Player;
art. 8
10. Each Party has the right to submit a request to the Chamber for the termination of the Contract due to the fault of one of the Parties or for reasons not attributable to the Parties, in cases other than those indicated in paragraphs 3-5. When considering the case, the Chamber assesses individually whether there has been a flagrant violation by the Club or the Player of contractual obligations. The termination of the contract takes effect from the date of the Chamber's final decision, unless the ruling issued in the first instance is immediately enforceable.
11. A request as referred to in paragraph 10 may be submitted, in particular, by the Player:
a. whose Club obliges him to individual training sessions in a situation where such training is not justified by medical or objective training reasons;
The provisions of the resolution list among the club's obligations the commitment to ensuring the player's improvement of sporting qualifications. How should this provision be interpreted? Should it be understood only as the club's obligation to provide the player with training facilities, or more broadly as the player's right to personal development and talent enhancement?
In the jurisprudence of the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber, it is well-established that among the fundamental rights of a player is not only the right to timely receive remuneration, but also to participate in training and competition with the other players of the team (see reasoning in the decision of February 27, 2014, where the Chamber considered the case of a player who was not registered for matches). At the same time, the decisions also indicated that the club has the right to assign a player to the reserve team if it is necessary for the player's preparation (see reasoning in the decision of March 28, 2014).
In the jurisprudence of the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which considers appeals against decisions of the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber, the view was expressed that deregistering a player from the first team (under Swiss law, which is applied subsidiarily in resolving disputes before the Court) may constitute a violation of his personal rights. Basic criteria were also developed that should be examined when assessing whether the demotion to the reserves was lawful.
These were reduced to the following questions:
• Why was the player moved to the reserve team?
• Is the player receiving full remuneration in the reserve team (as per the contract)?
• Was the player moved to the reserve team temporarily or permanently?
• Do the players of the reserve team have the same facilities as the players of the first team?
• Was the possibility of transferring the player to the reserves explicitly reserved in the contract?
• Is the player training individually or with the team?
The same Tribunal, in the case of Erik Salkic vs. the Football Union of Russia (and Arsenal Tula), expressed the view that the temporary demotion of a player to the reserves (during periods when official matches are not played) may be considered a breach of contract, even if it does not result in the loss of part of the player's earnings, but it does not justify the termination of the contract.
Returning to the Polish regulations, the resolution on minimum requirements for football contracts lists, in an enumerative manner, situations in which a football contract can be unilaterally terminated by declaration of will (more HERE). It also grants the parties to the football contract the right to apply to the Chamber for early termination of the contract due to fault (or without fault) of one of the parties. It even provides examples of situations that could be the basis for terminating the contract, including the obligation of the player to undergo individual training despite it not being justified by sporting reasons. Currently, there is no doubt that directing a player to individual training as a form of sanction is contrary to the regulations of the Polish Football Association (PZPN), and the player can effectively demand the termination of the contract due to the club's fault. But what about being moved to the reserves? Can a player in such a situation effectively demand the termination of the contract?
In my opinion, we can draw on the criteria developed in the jurisprudence of FIFA and the Tribunal. Primarily, we should examine the purpose behind moving the player to the reserve team. If the evidence in a specific case indicates 2)and particularly relevant here may be the temporal coincidence between the club learning about the player signing a contract with another team or submitting a declaration of non-renewal of an expiring contract and the player being moved to the reserve team that the player was transferred to the reserves simply because he did not meet the club's expectations regarding his continued employment, then, recognizing the player's right to improve his skills, I believe we should unequivocally support the possibility of contract termination due to the club's fault.
Echoing the arguments presented in the tribunal's jurisprudence and emphasizing the fact that a professional athlete's career is relatively short, allowing the club to "punish" the player for exercising his rights (the right to sign a contract with a new employer six months before the contract expires) would contradict the purpose for which the provisions on contracts between players and clubs were introduced.
Of course, I do not prejudge how the case presented at the outset will end, but I believe that if the player manages to prove that the club moved him to the reserves because he signed a contract with a competitor, the decision should be favorable to the player. And if this happens, the current transfer window could be the last one in which being sent to the reserves will be a negotiating tool aimed at increasing the transfer fee.
Photo: Konrad Karlsson via Foter.com / CC BY-ND
- § 21 ust. 5 Resolution No. VIII/124 of July 14, 2015, of the Board of the Polish Football Association regarding the status of players and the rules of changing club affiliation, art. 4 ust. 2 lit. c Resolution of March 27, 2015, of the Board of the Polish Football Association on the minimum requirements for standard player contracts in the professional football sector.
- and particularly relevant here may be the temporal coincidence between the club learning about the player signing a contract with another team or submitting a declaration of non-renewal of an expiring contract and the player being moved to the reserve team