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The sports arbitration of the foreign coach has not been implemented yet. The Taizhou Intermediate Court: recognize and enforce the arbitration

2024-08-19

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Spanish coach Garcia was hired as the head coach of Taizhou A Company Football Club. The two parties signed the "Head Coach Professional Work Contract", which stipulated Garcia's job responsibilities, commercial use of image rights, salary bonuses and benefits, disciplines and obligations to be observed, etc. The contract also stipulated that when a dispute arises between the two parties and cannot be resolved through negotiation, FIFA is agreed to be the institution with jurisdiction, and the International Court of Arbitration for Sport, an international arbitration institution under the International Olympic Committee in Switzerland, will be the final appeal body.

Afterwards, the two parties had conflicts over the introduction of players and team operations due to the team's poor performance. Company A failed to pay the corresponding salary and benefits as agreed, and the two parties had a dispute over whether to continue to perform the contract.

Garcia then applied to FIFA's Player Status Committee for arbitration, claiming compensation, liquidated damages and corresponding interest. The committee ruled in part in favor of Garcia's request. Company A was dissatisfied and appealed to the final appeal body agreed in the contract, the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which upheld the ruling.

After the award was made, Company A failed to perform, so Garcia applied to the Taizhou Intermediate People's Court for recognition and enforcement of the arbitration award.

Court hearing

According to the commercial reservation declaration made by my country when it joined the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (hereinafter referred to as the New York Convention), only "commercial arbitration" can be recognized and enforced in my country. In practice, "commercial arbitration" must include "contractual and non-contractual commercial legal relationships", specifically referring to economic rights and obligations arising from contracts, torts or relevant legal provisions, such as the sale of goods, property leasing, etc.

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Article 2 of the Decision of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on my country's Accession to the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards:

The People's Republic of China applies this Convention only to disputes arising from contractual and non-contractual commercial legal relationships recognized under the laws of the People's Republic of China.

Article 304 of the Civil Procedure Law:

If a legally effective arbitration award made outside the territory of the People's Republic of China needs to be recognized and enforced by a people's court, the parties may apply directly to the intermediate people's court at the place where the person to be enforced resides or where his property is located.

Based on this, the key to whether a foreign arbitration award can be applied for compulsory enforcement in my country lies in determining whether the award belongs to "commercial arbitration". Specifically in this case, it means whether the nature of the contract involved and the relationship between the two parties can be classified as a commercial legal relationship.

The court held that the "Head Coach Professional Employment Contract" signed by the two parties was different from a single, strongly subordinate labor contract. From the perspective of the contract, the contract gave Garcia greater autonomy and stipulated joint cooperation and profit sharing for the commercial use of Garcia's portrait rights.

Therefore, the contract in this case includes various economic contractual relationships such as the provision of services, payment of remuneration by the unit, and benefits from cooperation between the two parties. It should be recognized as a comprehensive commercial contractual relationship between equal subjects, and the two parties constitute a commercial contractual relationship between equal subjects.

Considering the nature of the contract signed by both parties, and the fact that the dispute in the case was based on the commercial contractual relationship between the two parties, and according to the award of the International Court of Arbitration for Sport, the final appellate body stipulated in the contract, the arbitration award in the case was made in Switzerland. Both China and Switzerland are contracting parties to the New York Convention. The court held that the arbitration award in this case met the conditions for foreign arbitration awards to be recognized and enforced under Chinese law, and ruled to recognize and enforce the arbitration award.

Judge's opinion

The Court of Arbitration for Sport, as an international arbitration institution under the International Olympic Committee, was established specifically to resolve international sports disputes. This case explored the situation in which the Court of Arbitration for Sport made a ruling involving a professional contract dispute between a coach and a club. It was held that if the dispute dealt with by the arbitration award was a dispute over economic rights and obligations arising from a contractual relationship between equal parties, it was of a commercial nature and in line with the commercial reservation made by my country when it joined the New York Convention, and the Chinese courts should recognize and enforce it.

This case ruled on the recognition and enforcement of the arbitration award made by the International Court of Arbitration for Sport in an international player-club dispute in accordance with the New York Convention, providing an exploratory reference for the recognition and enforcement of such arbitration awards in the future by Chinese courts.

Original title: The sports arbitration of the foreign coach has not been implemented, so he went to the court...

(Source: Jiangsu Higher People's Court WeChat Official Account)

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