Barcelona is taking Zenit St. Petersburg to sport’s highest court in pursuit of a bonus payment it missed out on after the Russian club was banned from the Champions League following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Barcelona claims it is owed USD 525,000 from Zenit because of a clause in the transfer deal that saw Brazil winger Malcom join the Russian club in 2019. As part of that deal, Zenit was required to pay Barcelona 490,000 euros (USD 525,000) each time it qualified for the Champions League group stage in a season where Malcom had played in at least half its domestic league games.
But FIFA ruled last year that Zenit did not have to pay that money after being excluded from the 2022-23 Champions League season as part of a UEFA ban on Russian clubs, even though they had won the domestic league last season. to qualify for the competition. The Court of Arbitration for Sport announced Wednesday that it would hold a hearing on March 22 on the dispute. Zenit earned €41 million ($44 million) in UEFA prize money at the Champions League organisational level in the 2021-22 season, their last appearance. In the competition.
In the FIFA ruling, Judge Thulaganyo Gaoshubelwe stated that Zenit would not be obliged to “share economic advantages that it never obtained”, adding that the war in Ukraine was an occasion “not directly attributable to (Zenit). ” Zenit agreed to pay 40 million euros ($43 million) plus long-term bonuses for Malcom in August 2019, Barcelona announced at the time of the transfer.
Zenit Malcolm signed Saudi Arabian club Al Hilal last July for €60 million (then $66 million).
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