September 1 – A Russian panel which handles player contract disputes is unfairly weighted in favour of executives from the league and clubs according to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
CAS has ruled that Zenit St. Petersburg official Pavel Pivovarov must stand down as deputy chairman of the so-called National Dispute Resolution Chamber and that Konstantin Lyakhov’s position as legal director of the national league and chairman of the chamber was also a conflict of interest.
FIFA rules allow the club and player in a dispute to each choose at least one arbitrator each but require both the chairman and deputy chairman to be independent. The impartiality of the Russian panel was successfully challenged by the country’s players union.
The union is pushing to improve the rights of footballers who are unfairly treated in the domestic league as Russia prepares to host the 2018 World Cup. For years, according to world players’ union FIFpro, players who have lost their cases in Russia for complaints including unfair dismissal have had to drop their challenges or mount long and expensive appeals to CAS.
“This is an important step in one of the most difficult places in the world to challenge the football establishment,” said Wil van Megen, FIFpro’s Legal Director.
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