The Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAS) set for March 22 the hearing for FC Barcelona’s lawsuit against Zenit for uncollected money, linked to a clause in Malcom’s contract when the sale of the Brazilian was finalized in 2019.
The Catalan club is demanding around 490,000 euros for a bonus that the Saint Petersburg team had to pay if it qualified for the group stage of the Champions League and the player played at least half of the local league games. Zenit argues that it is not their responsibility to pay it, since it was excluded from the top European competition in the 2022/2023 season as part of UEFA sanctions for Russia’s war in Ukraine.
READ MORE
++ São Paulo coach confirms James Rodriguez’s departure: “It was his decision”
++ Ecuadorian midfielder Cifuentes arrives at Cruzeiro on loan from Rangers
++ Giovane on the Brazilian National Team: “We all dream of playing in the Olympics”
This case was already settled in the FIFA tribunal, which ruled in favor of Zenit by arguing that that institution “had no responsibility” in having been declassified from the Champions League, since it was “a decision adopted by a third body” ( UEFA) and “taken in relation to events not directly attributable” to the club.
FC Barcelona was dissatisfied with that decision and decided to take the matter to the CAS, an international arbitration or mediation body that settles disputes surrounding sports and has its headquarters in Lausanne (Switzerland).
Malcom, 26 years old and who emerged from Corinthians, played little during the only season he was in the Spanish team and then played four seasons in Russian soccer. In the middle of last year he was transferred to Al Hilal in Saudi Arabia, the same team that Neymar later joined, for around 60 million euros.
