October 14 – Barcelona’s hopes of securing €490,000 from Zenit St Petersburg have taken a hit after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) dismissed their appeal in a contract dispute over the transfer of Brazilian winger Malcom who moved to the Russian club in 2019.
Barcelona believed they had a legal right to the money in a case that has been dragging on for years.
As part of the terms of Malcom’s transfer to Russia, a clause was included which stipulated that Barca would receive a bonus payment on each occasion in which Zenit qualified for the Champions League, as long as the Brazilian had played at least 50% of the club’s league fixtures.
FIFA ultimately came to the conclusion that Zenit should not be required to cough up owing to the ban on Russian clubs in European competition following the invasion of Ukraine.
Barca disagreed and took the case to CAS whose ruling upheld FIFA’s initial decision, indicating that Zenit should not be penalised for external circumstances beyond their control.
Following Malcom’s departure, Zenit later sold him to Saudi Arabian club Al Hilal for around €60 million.
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