X. v. Y. and the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) [The Greek Football Club] - Swiss International Arbitration Law Reports (SIALR) - 2007 Vol. 1 Nos. 1 & 2

Page Count:

7 pages

Media Description:

1 PDF Download

Published:

December, 2007

Practice Areas:

PDF160.42 KB

$40.00

Description:

Preview Page

Headnote

Preliminary and interlocutory decisions in international arbitration

may be set aside based only on the improper appointment of an

arbitrator, the improper constitution of an arbitral tribunal or on

jurisdictional grounds. Other grounds, available in setting aside

proceedings against final awards, are excluded.

Summary of the Decision

Professional football player X. refused to submit to a contract

extension desired by Greek football club Y. X. obtained a decision from

the FIFA Players’ Status Committee declaring that the unilateral option

clause for the benefit of Y. was invalid. Upon an appeal brought by Y., a

CAS panel ruled that the unilateral option clause was valid and binding,

set aside the decision by the Players’ Status Committee and remitted the

matter for a fresh decision. X. then brought this action to have the CAS

panel’s award set aside on public policy grounds.

The Federal Supreme Court held: in international arbitration,

preliminary and interlocutory decisions made by an arbitrator may be set

aside only on the ground that the appointment of the arbitrator or the

constitution of the arbitral tribunal was improper, or on jurisdictional

grounds. Since X. had relied on other grounds, the court determined that

the application to set aside was inadmissible.

Accordingly, the application to set aside was dismissed.

Statutory and Other Provisions Referred to in the Decision

Federal Judiciary Organization Act arts. 6(a), 37(3), 90(1)(b), 156(1),

159(1) and (2) (FJOA/OG/OJ)

Federal Supreme Court Act arts. 132(1) (FSCA/BGG/LTF)

Swiss Federal Private International Law Act Chapter 12, arts. 188,

190(2)(a), (b), (e) and (3), 191(1) (FPILA/IPRG/LDIP)