Individual or Group Contracts: CAS 2024/A/11078 & CAS 2024/A/11079 & CAS 2024/A/11081

CAS 2024/A/11078 & CAS 2024/A/11079 & CAS 2024/A/11081

Date of the decision: 2025-11-04

Arbitrator(s): Giulio Palermo

Whether two or more contracts between a club and a head coach and their team should be treated as separate individual contracts or as a single group contract would be determined by whether the contracts were negotiated individually, even if the negotiations were coordinated. A coordinated negotiation may simply mean that a head coach was to push for their team to join them at a new club, without implying that all contracts constitute a single group contract.

Facts and Procedure

On 16 May 2024, a Pre-employment Contract was entered into between the Appellant no. 1 and the Respondent Club until 31 December 2024. The remuneration was for Appellant no. 1 as well as his Staff (Appellant no. 2 & Appellant no. 3)

This was followed by three individual employment contracts with the Appellants, signed on 20 May 2024 and expiring on 31 December 2024.

As per the individual employment contracts signed on 20 June 2024, each of the three Appellants was entitled to a different amount.

On 21 June 2024, the club terminated all three employment contracts without just cause. On 24 June 2024, the Respondent sent the coaches documents to adjust the payment for the Appellants’ termination, including draft settlement/payment calculations. On 25 June 2024, the Appellants submitted their comments/suggestions regarding the Club's draft termination payment documents.

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