Panthère Sportive de Ndé Nzuimanto v. Fédération Camerounaise de Football (FECAFOOT)

At a glance

Parties

Panthère Sportive de Ndé Nzuimanto (Cameroon) v. Fédération Camerounaise de Football (FECAFOOT)

Case no.

CAS 2022/A/9283 (TAS 2022/A/9283)

Forum and rules

Court of Arbitration for Sport, appeals procedure, Code of Sports-related Arbitration (2022 edition)

Treaty

None; appeal under Articles 73(4) and 75 of the FECAFOOT Statutes

Tribunal

Jacques Radoux (Sole Arbitrator)

Sector

Football; sports governance

Outcome

Appeal partially upheld (15 August 2023). Resolution No. 15 of the FECAFOOT General Assembly of 27 August 2022 declared null and void; the other requests were rejected.

Amount

No damages claimed. The club asked for costs and at least CHF 15,000 towards its legal fees; FECAFOOT asked for CHF 20,000. The costs rulings (operative ¶¶ 5–6) are redacted in the published award.

The dispute

Panthère Sportive de Ndé Nzuimanto is a football club based in Bangangté and a member of FECAFOOT, the national football federation of Cameroon. On 27 August 2022 the FECAFOOT ordinary General Assembly adopted Resolution No. 15, which elected new members of the federation's judicial commissions as proposed by the Executive Committee. The members elected on 7 August 2021 for four-year terms were still in office at that time. The club argued that the resolution breached the FECAFOOT Statutes and Electoral Code: there was no integrity check by the Ethics Commission, the Electoral Commission was bypassed, no proper secret ballot was held, and the sitting members had not been validly removed. FECAFOOT argued that the appeal was inadmissible because internal remedies had not been exhausted and because a CCA record of non-conciliation is not an appealable decision. On the merits it relied on a bailiff's record stating that the earlier members had been removed.

Key holdings

1. CAS has jurisdiction. Under Article 57(3) of the CCA Statutes and Rules, an urgent procedure before the CCA only requires proof that the federation's internal body has been seized. Article 73 of the FECAFOOT Statutes does not require the club to wait for the Appeals Commission's decision first. The club seized both bodies on 14 October 2022, so it exhausted internal remedies. ¶¶ 68–72
2. The appeal is directed against Resolution No. 15, not against the CCA record of non-conciliation. Read together, Article 96(2) of Law No. 2018/014 and Articles 73(4) and 75 of the FECAFOOT Statutes open an appeal to CAS once the CCA has recorded non-conciliation. Seizing the CCA in urgent proceedings does not amount to accepting its jurisdiction as arbitrator. ¶¶ 73–79
3. The appeal is admissible. The 21-day time limit under Article R49 ran from notification of the CCA record on 31 October 2022, so the filing of 18/21 November 2022 was in time. An appeal filed directly after the General Assembly would have been premature. ¶¶ 80–84
4. Article 43 of the Statutes also applies to individual members of federation bodies. No reasoned proposal to remove them was sent with the agenda, and there is no indication that the members concerned were heard or invited to defend themselves. Failing to hear them is a serious defect that makes any removal decision null. Their mandates therefore continued, and the General Assembly could not elect others to their posts. ¶¶ 99–106
5. The list of candidates was settled only on 26 August 2022, the day before the Assembly. It therefore could not be sent with the convocation as a 'useful document' within the period required by Article 28(2). The irregularities were serious enough to make Resolution No. 15 null and void. ¶¶ 107–108
6. Two requests were rejected. The request to annul disciplinary decisions Nos. 057, 060 and 061 was unsubstantiated, went beyond the request made before the CCA, and concerned decisions never challenged internally. The request for a declaration that the 2021 members remain in office until their terms end was rejected because Article 67(6) allows their removal at any time. ¶¶ 109–113
7. The Sole Arbitrator declined to examine whether the General Assembly was validly convened in light of Samuel Eto'o Fils's criminal conviction, because the question had not been raised before the lower instances. ¶¶ 91–92

Procedural history

1. 27 August 2022The FECAFOOT ordinary General Assembly adopts Resolution No. 15, electing new members of the judicial commissions.
2. 14 October 2022The club challenges the resolution before the FECAFOOT President and Appeals Commission, and in an extreme-urgency conciliation request before the CCA of the National Olympic and Sports Committee of Cameroon.
3. 31 October 2022The CCA records non-conciliation and refuses provisional measures.
4. 18 November 2022Statement of appeal filed with CAS by email (and by post on 21 November 2022).
5. 7 January 2023The FECAFOOT Appeals Commission declares the club's internal appeal inadmissible.
6. 3 February 2023Jacques Radoux appointed as Sole Arbitrator.
7. 7 June 2023Hearing held by videoconference.
8. 15 August 2023Award: appeal partially upheld; Resolution No. 15 declared null and void.

Tribunal, counsel and experts

Decided by

• Jacques Radoux Sole arbitrator, Court of Arbitration for Sport — appointed by the institution

For the claimant

Manga Eba'a · Yannick Djemeni

For the respondent

FECAFOOT · Elame Bonny Privat · Jonathan Bornoz

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Keywords

• FECAFOOT
• Cameroon football
• general assembly
• convocation
• removal of body members
• right to be heard
• judicial commissions
• elections
• nullity of resolution
• exhaustion of internal remedies
• CCA CNOSC
• record of non-conciliation
• Article R47 CAS Code
• Article R49 time limit
• Samuel Eto'o
• sports governance

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