Joan Carrillo Milan v. Debreceni Vasutas Sport Club, Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA)

At a glance

Parties

Joan Carrillo Milan (Spain) v. DVSC Futball Szervezo Zrt. (Hungary) and FIFA

Case no.

CAS 2023/A/9477

Forum and rules

Court of Arbitration for Sport, appeal arbitration under the CAS Code (2023 edition)

Instrument

FIFA Statutes Art. 58(1); FIFA RSTP Art. 22 lit. c) and 23; Clause 22 of the employment contract

Panel

Yasna Stavreva (Sole Arbitrator)

Sector

Football; coach employment

Outcome

Appeal upheld (14 February 2024). The FIFA PSC decision of 22 November 2022 was annulled and the case sent back to the FIFA PSC to decide the merits.

Amount

Claimed: 12 months' salary and bonus as compensation (amounts redacted), less the coach's earnings under his new contract. CAS awarded no amount because it sent the merits back to FIFA.

The dispute

Joan Carrillo Milan, a Spanish coach, became head coach of the Hungarian club DVSC under a contract of 7 November 2021 that ran until 30 June 2023. Clause 22 of the contract referred disputes to FIFA. The Club terminated the contract on 27 June 2022 without stating reasons. Its termination letter said the coach could bring a claim before the Debrecen Regional Court within 30 days. The coach filed a claim with the FIFA Players' Status Chamber (PSC) on 24 July 2022, and two days later filed a claim in a court in Székesfehérvár, Hungary. He withdrew the Hungarian claim on 24 February 2023. The FIFA PSC held his claim inadmissible for "forum shopping". On appeal, the coach argued that he had not acted in bad faith and that FIFA had jurisdiction. The Club challenged the authority of the coach's representative, whose registration as an attorney had been cancelled. FIFA and the Club argued that the parallel claims were plain forum shopping.

Key holdings

1. The Club's objection to the coach's representative failed. Under Article R30 of the CAS Code a party may be represented by any person of its choice, who need not be a licensed lawyer. The powers of attorney filed met the requirements of Article R30. ¶¶ 56–59
2. The FIFA rules apply first, in particular the RSTP (edition July 2022), with Swiss law filling gaps. Hungarian law, chosen by the parties, applies to questions the FIFA rules do not cover. Clause 23 of the contract sets no hierarchy that would give Hungarian law precedence. ¶¶ 52–54
3. FIFA was in principle competent under Article 22 lit. c) RSTP and Clause 22 of the contract. This was an employment dispute with an international dimension, and the parties had chosen FIFA rather than a national arbitration tribunal or a State court. ¶¶ 68–71
4. Forum shopping is linked to the principle electa una via. Unlawful forum shopping requires an intent to "game the system" to the detriment of the other party, so bad faith is an essential element of it. ¶¶ 73–76
5. Bad faith was not proven. The Hungarian claim would have become time-barred 30 days after termination, while the FIFA limitation period is two years, and the Club contested FIFA's jurisdiction. The coach reasonably filed in Hungary to preserve his rights. The FIFA PSC therefore erred in declaring his claim inadmissible. ¶¶ 77–81
6. The appeal is upheld and the decision annulled. Because the coach's principal request was to send the case back to FIFA, the case returns to the FIFA PSC to decide the merits. ¶¶ 82–83; operative part

Procedural history

1. 27 June 2022The Club terminated the employment contract.
2. 24 July 2022The coach filed a claim with the FIFA PSC. On 26 July 2022 he filed a claim before the Tribunal of Székesfehérvár.
3. 22 November 2022The FIFA PSC declared the claim inadmissible for forum shopping. The grounds were notified on 17 February 2023.
4. 24 February 2023The coach withdrew his Hungarian claim.
5. 7 March 2023The coach filed his Statement of Appeal with CAS.
6. 24 April 2023Panel constituted, with Yasna Stavreva as Sole Arbitrator.
7. 24 August 2023Hearing held by video-conference.
8. 14 February 2024Award: appeal upheld and case referred back to the FIFA PSC.

Tribunal, counsel and experts

Decided by

• Yasna Stavreva Sole arbitrator, Court of Arbitration for Sport

For the claimant

Kristóf Wenczel

For the respondent

FIFA · Andor Leka · Peter Leka

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Keywords

• forum shopping
• electa una via
• bad faith
• FIFA Players' Status Chamber
• FIFA RSTP Article 22
• coach employment contract
• termination without just cause
• parallel proceedings
• Hungarian Labour Code
• time limit
• representation
• CAS Code Article R30
• admissibility
• referral back to FIFA
• DVSC Debrecen
• FIFA Commentary

Summary generated with AI from the published documents — refer to the award for the authoritative text.