You are a professional player, a coach, or an agent and you are under a contract with a club. The club is in debt to you. Even though the deadlines have passed some time ago, the club keeps on delaying payments. What should you do? What is a further course of action?
1. Send a written notice to the club reminding them of the debt.
2. Send a warning to the club stating that in case the debt is unpaid within a certain period, you will be forced to submit a claim to court/arbitration.
3. The further course of events depends on the authority you choose to resolve your dispute. Cases are handled differently in local courts and Basketball Arbitral Tribunal (BAT) or Euroleague Basketball Dispute Resolution Chamber (EBDRC). Court fees vary, litigation itself differs and enforcement of a court/arbitration award diverges.
4. Proceedings in local courts can take several years. Keeping in mind that decisions of local courts can be appealed to a higher instance court, the process of litigation might seem endless. Once the court issues a decision, the process of enforcement will start. If the club is unwilling to enforce the decision in good faith, you will require recourse to bailiffs, which means additional costs and a longer process. Moreover, the court will decide the case under the local laws.
5. At BAT, the case is dealt with much faster, on average in 6-8 months. BAT decisions are unappealable which means that the case will go through the process much faster. It is important to point out that enforcement of BAT decisions is guaranteed by FIBA, which makes the process easy and at no cost. The Arbitrator will decide the case under the principle ex aequo et bono. For more info https://www.fiba.basketball/bat
6. If you have chosen the Euroleague Basketball Dispute Resolution Chamber (EBDRC) as the dispute resolution body in the contract with the club, the enforcement of the decision will be faster, as it will be supervised by the Euroleague. However, keep in mind that the EBDRC can only be chosen if it is provided for in your contract with the club and if the club is one of the clubs with a Euroleague long-term license.
In any case, your actions in recovering the debt depend on what dispute resolution institution you have chosen in your contract with the club. Therefore, it would be wise to consult your sports lawyer before signing a contract with a club. If, for some reason you are not willing to consult your lawyer, here are my guidelines Legal Points Of The Basketball Player – Club Agreement