The case CAS 2016/A/4903 Club Atletico Velez Sarsfield v. The Football Association Ltd., Manchester City FC & FIFA constitutes a relevant decision in relation to Article19 of the FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players (RSTP). Velez Sarsfield, an Argentine club, challenged at CAS a decision of the Single Judge of the FIFA Sub-Committee that authorized the move of the player Benjamin Garre to Manchester City. The player, 16 years old at the time of the registration, had dual citizenship (Italian and Argentine). The FIFA decision was following the criterion set in the second CAS Vada award (TAS 2012/A/2862 FC Girondins de Bordeaux c. FIFA) that held that the exception was applicable to any player with EU citizenship irrespective of the country he was moving from.
In that case, the club challenging the FIFA decision was the “new” club of the player while in the present case, the appellant was the “former” club.
Velez argued that the Vada decision was wrong, and the exception established in Article 19.2 b of the FIFA RSTP should be interpreted based on its literal wording, i.e. only applicable to moves within the European territory. This, in order to prevent a discriminatory situation against clubs not based in the EU territory that have registered players with UE citizenship.
On its side, the respondents challenged the standing to sue of Vélez, stating that the registration of minors is an issue that concerns only the national federations and not the clubs, and maintaining, as to the substance, that the Vada precedent was materially right in its findings.
The Panel left the issue on the standing unanswered, pointing...
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