Neither the fact that the parties to a contract continue negotiating amendments to the contract, nor the fact that in parallel to the negotiations, one of the parties to the contract is also in employment contract negotiations with a third party (which is not permitted in the country of the other party), entitles the other party to terminate the contract with just cause in the meaning of the FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players (RSTP). Even if in some countries and in some cultures, it may be considered particularly offensive or even outrageous if a person negotiates in parallel with more than one potential employer at the same time, such attitude is irrelevant when it comes to matters of international nature which have to be decided taking into account the FIFA Regulations and additionally, Swiss Law.
Regarding the amount of the compensation due to the injured party as per breach of contract, two basic principles have been recognised, that in case of a breach of contract, if there is no agreement between the parties with respect to the amount of compensation, the calculation of said compensation shall be made taking into account the criteria established by article 17 RSTP and that the calculation of the amount of compensation shall be made based on the principle of the so-called “positive interest”, meaning the amount of compensation shall put the respective party in the position that same party would have been in if the contract had been performed properly.Facts/Procedure
At the end of December 2008, the Player was approached by the Club in order to finalize a possible transfer from his previous Club LDU Quito. On 25 December 2008, the Club sent a letter to the Agents of the Player, in which the offer of a contract was made in favour of the Player. On the same date, an official offer was sent also by the Club to his former Club of LDU Quito for the negotiation of the transfer fee.
Concurrently with the aforementioned, the Agents informed the Club by email of the acceptance of the offer by the Player and LDU Quito. On 27 December 2008, the Club sent a new, more detailed offer to one of the Player’s Agents and on the same date the Player sent to the Club the signed acceptance of said offer.
The Club offered a net salary of USD 1,300,000 for the period starting from 1 January 2009 until 30 June 2010, half of this amount to be paid upon the signing of the contract (and...
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