Failure to Respect Decisions
1. Anyone who fails to pay another person (such as a player, a coach, a football agent, a match agent or a club) or FIFA a sum of money in full or part, even though instructed to do so by a body, a committee, a subsidiary or an instance of FIFA or a CAS decision (financial decision), or anyone who fails to comply with another final decision (non-financial decision) passed by a body, a committee, a subsidiary or an instance of FIFA, or by CAS:
a) may be fined for failing to comply with a decision and receive any pertinent additional disciplinary measure; and, if necessary:
b) will be granted a final deadline in which to pay the amount due or to comply with the non-financial decision;
c) may be ordered to pay an interest rate of 18% p.a. to the creditor as from the date of the decision of the Disciplinary Committee rendered in connection to a CAS decision on an appeal against a (financial) decision passed by a body, a committee, a subsidiary or an instance of FIFA;
d) in the case of clubs, upon expiry of the aforementioned final deadline and in the event of persistent default or failure to comply in full with the decision within the period stipulated, a ban on registering new players will be issued until the complete amount due is paid or the non-financial decision is complied with. A deduction of points or relegation to a lower division may also be ordered in addition to a ban on registering new players in the event of persistent failure (i.e. the ban on registering new players has been served for more than three entire and consecutive registration periods following the notification of the decision), repeated offences or serious infringements or if no full registration ban could be imposed or served for any reason;
e) in the case of member associations, upon expiry of the aforementioned final deadline and in the event of persistent default or failure to comply in full with the decision within the period stipulated, additional disciplinary measures may be imposed;
f) in the case of natural persons, upon expiry of the aforementioned final deadline and in the event of persistent default or failure to comply in full with the decision within the period stipulated, a ban on any football-related activity and/or a suspension of the relevant licence for a specific period may be imposed. Other disciplinary measures may also be imposed. Offences II.
23 2. With regard to financial decisions passed by a body, a committee, a subsidiary or an instance of FIFA, or CAS, disciplinary proceedings may only commence at the request of the creditor or any other affected party who is entitled to be notified of the final outcome of the said disciplinary proceedings, including the motivated decision if so requested.
3. If the sanctioned person disregards the final time limit, FIFA and/or the relevant association (in cases involving clubs or natural persons) shall implement the sanctions imposed. Where a registration ban (in the case of a club), a ban on any football-related activity and/or a suspension of the relevant licence (in the case of a natural person) or a disciplinary measure (in the case of member associations) has been enforced against a debtor in accordance with this article in relation to a financial obligation resulting from a CAS or FIFA decision and where the debtor provides FIFA with reliable evidence of having complied with such decision, such ban or measure may be provisionally lifted. The creditor will be invited to confirm whether such payment has been made.
a) Should the debtor have provided accurate information and fully settled its financial obligation, the ban or measure is considered permanently lifted.
b) Should the debtor have provided inaccurate information and/or have failed to comply with its financial obligation in full, the Disciplinary Committee may decide to: i. reinstate the ban or measure; and ii. impose additional disciplinary measures.
4. The sporting successor of a non-compliant party shall also be considered a non-compliant party and thus subject to the obligations under this provision. Criteria to assess whether an entity is to be considered as the sporting successor of another entity are, among others, its headquarters, name, legal form, team colours, players, public perception, shareholders or stakeholders or ownership and the category of competition concerned.
5. With regard to financial decisions passed by a body, a committee, a subsidiary or an instance of FIFA, or CAS, creditors are expected to remain vigilant and take prompt legal action to enforce any financial claims arising from such decisions, including by actively registering their claims in accordance with the relevant domestic insolvency or bankruptcy proceedings, unless said claims are registered ex officio in those proceedings.
a) Debtors must notify creditors in a timely and reasonable manner about the initiation of domestic insolvency or bankruptcy proceedings, and no later than 15 days after becoming aware of the initiation of such proceedings. They must also outline the creditors’ rights in the proceedings and the methods available to the creditors for registering a claim.
24 b) Creditors shall be considered negligent if they fail to register their claims without valid justification and despite having been informed by the debtor about the initiation of domestic insolvency or bankruptcy proceedings.
c) Creditors shall not be considered negligent if they are unable to register their claims in the relevant domestic insolvency or bankruptcy proceedings if the financial decision passed by a body, a committee, a subsidiary or an instance of FIFA, or CAS, is issued when the domestic registration period for claims has expired and cannot be reopened.
6. Any financial or non-financial decision that has been issued against a club by a competent decision-making body within the relevant association shall be enforced by the association of the deciding body that has issued the decision in accordance with the principles established in this article and in compliance with the applicable disciplinary regulations. An association will be fined for failing to enforce the decision in accordance with this article. In the event of persistent failure to enforce the decision, additional disciplinary measures may be imposed on the association.
7. Any financial or non-financial decision that has been issued against a natural person by a competent decision-making body within the relevant association shall be enforced by the association of the deciding body that has issued the decision or by the natural person’s new association, if the natural person has, in the meantime, been registered or licensed at another association, or otherwise employed by a club affiliated to another association or by another association, in accordance with the principles established in this article and in compliance with the applicable disciplinary regulations. An association will be fined for failing to enforce the decision in accordance with this article. In the event of persistent failure to enforce the decision, additional disciplinary measures may be imposed on the association.
8. Any financial decision issued by the Football T ribunal or FIFA imposing disciplinary measures, such as a ban from registering any new players – either nationally or internationally – or a restriction on playing in official matches, will be automatically enforced by FIFA and the relevant member association. FIFA will be competent to deal with any issue relating to the enforcement of such decisions, including but not limited to the potential recognition of the sporting successor and the assessment of potential insolvency or bankruptcy proceedings.
9. Where a decision issued by the FIFA Football T ribunal or a proposal confirmed by the FIFA general secretariat contains consequences for failure to pay relevant amounts on time and the debtor has not provided proof of payment after such consequences have been served in full, the Disciplinary Committee may decide to provisionally extend such consequences until a final decision has been rendered by this judicial body in accordance with this article. Offences II.
25 10. The Disciplinary Committee shall be competent to decide on cases related to the failure to respect settlement agreements concluded in the context of disciplinary proceedings opened against a debtor with respect to a final and binding financial decision issued by a body, a committee, a subsidiary or an instance of FIFA or by CAS. This shall include private agreements concluded after any decision passed by a body, a committee, a subsidiary or an instance of FIFA or by CAS and made in order to settle their dispute.
11. Disciplinary proceedings for failing to respect a final CAS decision rendered in the context of ordinary proceedings may be initiated provided that the respective CAS procedure started after 15 July 2019.