West Ham United FC v. CSKA Moscow, Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA)

At a glance

Parties

West Ham United Football Club (England) v. PFC CSKA (Russia) and Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA)

Case no.

CAS 2023/A/9669

Forum and rules

Court of Arbitration for Sport, appeal arbitration under the Code of Sports-related Arbitration (2023 edition). FIFA regulations apply primarily, Swiss law additionally.

Treaty

None. Contract claim under a player transfer agreement and Article 12bis FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players

Tribunal

Carmen Núñez-Lagos (President), David Phillips, Bernhard Welten. Key findings were made by majority.

Sector

Football transfer

Outcome

Appeal partially upheld (30 May 2025). West Ham's debt to CSKA stands, but payment is suspended until an OFSI licence is obtained or the UK sanctions regime ends or is amended. Interest and the registration-ban deadline now run only from that date.

Amount

Second instalment of the transfer fee: EUR 8,550,266.77, plus 5% interest p.a. from the "Due Date" (not from 1 August 2022, as the FIFA decision had ordered). The total net transfer fee was EUR 25,650,800.31. Cost rulings are not reproduced in the published award.

The dispute

On 30 August 2021 CSKA transferred the player Nikola Vlašić to West Ham for a fee payable in three instalments; the net fee was later fixed at EUR 25,650,800.31. Payments were to go to CSKA's account at Sovcombank. In February 2022, after Russia's military action against Ukraine, the US designated CSKA, its then owner VEB and Sovcombank as Specially Designated Nationals. The UK designated VEB and Sovcombank, but not CSKA. West Ham's bank, Barclays, refused to process the second instalment of EUR 8,550,266.77 to CSKA, to Sovcombank, or through the alternative routes CSKA proposed (its shareholder AVO-Capital, or its creditor SC Heerenveen). The FIFA Players' Status Chamber ordered West Ham to pay with 5% interest, on pain of a registration ban. West Ham appealed, relying on force majeure, impossibility under Article 119 Swiss Code of Obligations, factum principis and clausula rebus sic stantibus. CSKA and FIFA answered that a money debt cannot become impossible to pay, that lawful alternative payment routes existed, and that West Ham had not made sufficient efforts to pay.

Key holdings

1. West Ham's request that the debt be declared extinguished in its entirety is outside the Panel's scope of review. It was not raised before the FIFA Players' Status Chamber and exceeds the Panel's de novo power. ¶ 150
2. By majority, the sanctions regimes prevented West Ham from paying. The restrictions targeted CSKA and Sovcombank. Payment through CSKA's shareholders or a third party without a licence would be an undue attempt to circumvent the sanctions. CSKA, as the sanctioned party, failed to prove that lawful alternative routes existed. ¶¶ 160–167
3. Under the rule genera non pereunt, a monetary obligation can never become impossible so as to be extinguished under Article 119 Swiss Code of Obligations. West Ham's plea for extinction is therefore denied. ¶¶ 170–171
4. By majority, the UK sanctions regime is a 'loi de police' that made payment temporarily and legally impossible. Following a 1918 Swiss Federal Tribunal decision on embargo and war, the obligation is suspended, not extinguished, and West Ham was not in default. Payment falls due when an OFSI licence is obtained and/or the UK sanctions regime ends or is amended so that payment is possible. ¶¶ 173–177
5. Interest at 5% p.a. accrues only from the Due Date, not from 1 August 2022. ¶¶ 179–180
6. The request to pay into an escrow account created and overseen by FIFA is dismissed, because FIFA stated that it has no means to create or oversee one. ¶¶ 182–183
7. By majority, the registration-ban consequence under Article 24 FIFA RSTP is kept but amended. It now applies only if full payment is not made within 45 days of the Due Date, rather than 45 days from notification of the FIFA decision. ¶ 188; operative part

Procedural history

1. 30 August 2021West Ham and CSKA sign the Player Transfer Agreement for Nikola Vlašić.
2. 24–28 February 2022The US designates CSKA, VEB and Sovcombank as SDNs. The UK lists VEB and Sovcombank as designated persons.
3. 21 December 2022CSKA files a claim before the FIFA Players' Status Chamber for the unpaid second instalment.
4. 31 March 2023The FIFA Players' Status Chamber orders West Ham to pay EUR 8,550,266.77 plus 5% interest from 1 August 2022, with a registration ban if it does not pay within 45 days.
5. 17 May 2023West Ham files its Statement of Appeal with CAS.
6. 19 June 2023The Panel is constituted.
7. October 2023 – April 2024Proceedings are suspended while the clubs negotiate. The suspension is lifted on 1 May 2024.
8. 26 September 2024Hearing at the CAS Court Office in Lausanne.
9. 6 March 2025West Ham reports that OFSI has denied the licence to pay via Sovcombank.
10. 30 May 2025Award: appeal partially upheld. Payment is suspended until it is lawful, with interest and sanction deadlines running from the Due Date.

Tribunal, counsel and experts

Decided by

• Carmen Núñez-Lagos President
• David Phillips Co-arbitrator — appointed by the claimant
• Bernhard Welten Co-arbitrator — appointed by the respondent

For the claimant

Centrefield LLP · Lévy Kaufmann-Kohler

For the respondent

Inlaw associés · FIFA

Experts

Daniel Bayfield (claimant)

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Keywords

• force majeure
• Russia sanctions
• OFSI
• OFAC
• temporary impossibility
• Article 119 Swiss Code of Obligations
• genera non pereunt
• overdue payables
• Article 12bis FIFA RSTP
• registration ban
• transfer fee
• Nikola Vlašić
• Sovcombank
• lois de police
• escrow account
• de novo review
• factum principis
• clausula rebus sic stantibus

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