TPO: Brussels Court of Appeal says no to mandatory arbitration at CAS of the RFC Seraing case

"On 31/08/2018, the Court of Appeal of Brussels rendered a judgement with far-reaching global consequences for the football world and the sport," stated Jean-Louis Dupont, Martin Hissel and Patrick Henry, the legal team for the football club RFC Seraing (BEL) in regards to TPO (third-party ownership of players in football), on 31/08/2018.

"For the last three years, FIFA, UEFA and the Belgian Football Association have fought tooth and nail to prevent RFC Seraing from access to a state court. They argued that based on the arbitration clauses in their statutes, all players and clubs had no choice but to submit to CAS arbitration in Lausanne (SUI)," explained the three lawyers.

"RFC Seraing argued that the arbitration clauses were abusive since they were imposed unilaterally by the sports federations, thereby assuring that they can always play a 'home game' since the federations finance such pseudo arbitral tribunal. In its precise and carefully drafted judgement, the Court of Appeal considered all arguments brought forward by the parties and rejected the arguments of FIFA, UEFA and…