Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA) Appeals committee has ordered for the immediate release of striker Charles “Neymar” Lwanga over non-payment of his salaries for 7 months.
Diana Nabuuso, the federation appeals committee chairperson passed the ruling on Thursday, 27th February 2020.
The case recorded as AC No.01 of 2020 was filed by the player as an appeal against the decision of the Dispute in the resolution chamber.
The Appeal of Charles Lwanga is allowed and is immediately released from his contract with Sports Club Villa and allowed to sign with any club of his choice. Sports Club Villa is ordered to pay Lwanga, within 90 days as from the date of notification of this decision, overdue payables in the amount of UGX 3,500,000 (Three million five hundred thousand shillings), plus a penalty of 10% of the amount due. The amount is to be paid in three equal installments. In the event that the amount due to Lwanga Charles is not paid by SC Villa within the stated time limit, the present matter shall be submitted, upon request, to FUFA for consideration and the committee recommends offsetting the above mentioned amount from any amount that may be due to SC Villa. Lwanga is directed to inform SC Villa immediately of the account number to which the remittance is to be made and to notify the Committee of every payment received
Ruling for Charles Lwanga
Lwanga is also a registered student at St Mary’s Secondary School.
The case nitty gritty:
Facts of the case:
In January 2019, Lwanga Charles (payer) signed a five (5) year employment contract with SC Villa (Club). The club undertook to pay the player a monthly salary of UGX 500,000. On 19th January 2020, the player wrote to the club demanding payment of his salaries totaling UGX 3,500,000 for the seven (7) months and asked to be released from the club since it had breached the contract.
On 20th January, the player wrote to the Player status committee asking to be released from SC Villa due to its failure to fulfil its financial obligations i.e. failure to pay his salary of 7 months. On 29th January, the club responded to the player’s letter and committed to pay “two months every month until the player’s salary arrears were cleared” The matter was then forwarded to the Dispute resolution chamber on 30th January 2020 and a decision was made on 7th February 2020 to the effect that, SC Villa pays Lwanga Charles his overdue payables of UGX 3,500,000 (Three Million five hundred thousand Uganda shillings) within ninety (90) days from the date of the decision and further added that, should SC Villa fail to pay the player his overdue payables within the stipulated time, the Player shall automatically be released to a club of his choice.
The player was not satisfied with the decision hence the Appeal. The player states that the Dispute Resolution Chamber failed to take into account Article 26.1 of the FUFA Regulations on the status and transfer of players which provides that, “A contract may be terminated by either party without consequences of any kind (either payment of compensation or imposition of sporting sanctions) where there is just cause.”
Issues to be determined:
1. Whether the club breached the contract with the player.
2. Whether the player put the club on notice
3. Whether the Dispute resolution chamber was justified in its decision
Resolution of the matters:
1. On whether the club breached the contract, the player in his letter stated that the club had not paid him his salary for 7 months. The club in its response also admitted to having not paid Lwanga Charles for seven months. Through its admission, SC Villa breached the contract by failing to fulfil its financial obligations towards the player. It should be noted that, the employer’s payment obligation is its main obligation towards the employee; if, therefore, the fails to meet this obligation, the employee can, as a rule, no longer be expected to continue to be bound by the contract in the future.
2. On whether the player put the club on notice, Article 26.4 of the Regulations on the Status and Transfer of players, “A party to a contract shall give the other party at least 14 days‟ notice of the party’s intention to terminate the contract for just cause.”The player wrote to the club on 19th January 2020 notifying the club of its breach of the contract. The 14 days lapsed on 2nd February 2020.Within the 14 days of the notice, the club committed to paying the player in writing (two months’ arrears every month till the debt was paid) but has since the letter not made any of the payments to the payer.
3. On whether the chamber was justified in its decision. The chamber while coming to the decision took into account the hardships clubs are going through and as such ordered the club to pay the player all his salary arrears within 90 days failure of which the player would be released to a club of his choice. Article 26 (1) of the FUFA Regulations on the status and transfer of players provides that, “A contract may be terminated by either party without consequences of any kind (either payment of compensation or imposition of sporting sanctions) where there is just cause.
”Circumstances that may amount to Just cause include but are not limited to outstanding salaries. Jurisprudence of both the DRC and CAS indicates that, a club’s persistent failure to pay the salary of a contracted player for a certain period can be considered an unjustified breach of an employment contract by the club.