Ajax wins Trabelsi case, contract to expire in summer 2006
04 June: The arbitration committee of the Dutch football
association (KNVB) announced today that the one-sided
extension by Ajax of Hatem Trabelsi's player contract was
legally valid. Trabelsi's defeat in the case means that his
contract with Ajax will not expire until the summer of 2006,
which means that a free transfer is out of the question for the
Tunisian fullback. Ajax has confirmed the news on its official
website, but no further comments were made.
The verdict comes after a dragging conflict
between Ajax and the Tunisian international, which has been
dragging for almost four months now. On
11 February of this year Trabelsi and his lawyer first
stated that the one-sided for Ajax to extend his original
player contract (until 2004) by another two seasons (until
2006) was not legally valid. The fullback, who joined Ajax in
the summer of 2001, made clear that
he wanted to move on at season's end and expected to leave on a
free transfer.
The conflict lingered for a month or two until Trabelsi
announced the inevitable on 21
April: he was going to take the case to court.
The session took place on 04 May. The judge, however,
concluded that the case was too much of a specific
'football-case'. He declared himself legally
incompetent and forwarded the case to the KNVB arbitration
committee. Ajax and Trabelsi once again told their
versions of the story on 17 May, this time at the KNVB's
headquarters in the Dutch town of Zeist.
Over there the case took a surprising turn as Trabelsi's
attorney disputed Ajax's claim that the player
and his agent were fully aware of what they were signing
for in July of 2001. It was now claimed that they
were not fully aware of this, as Trabelsi and
his agent only spoke French at the time - and very
limited English. Moreover, stated the player's lawyer,
that they were granted very limited time to take Ajax's
offer into consideration.
Another point not previously brought up was the
claim of Trabelsi's agent that the one-sided option
in the fullback's contract also included a
16% lower salary for the upcoming two seasons.
Ajax denied that Trabelsi would be making less money
in the upcoming years. The club clamied to have offered
him a 16% pay-raise earlier this season, thereby making up
for the salary in the original contract.
After a hearing of 2.5 hours the arbitration committee
announced that a verdict was to be expected in an estimated
three weeks' time. It was finally announced today, but not
before Trabelsi made a series of fierce accusations in an
interview with Dutch football weekly Voetbal
International. He accused Ajax of breaking promises and
claimed that the club is lying in claiming that a 16% pay-raise
was offered to him. The player also stated that Ronald Koeman
"may be a great coach, but he is not a great person." Koeman
replied to these remarks in football talkshow Voetbal
Insite on RTL5 TV by saying that the Tunisian had now
burnt his bridges: "I think there no longer is a way back
for him to to the team."
Today, finally, the KNVB arbitration committee put Trabelsi
in the wrong on every point. Even the player's
secondary claim that, regardless of the eventual verdict,
the professional relationship between Ajax and himself had been
irreparably damaged by the conflict, was not granted. Trabelsi
is tied to Ajax until 30 June of 2006. A free transfer will not
be possible this summer or the next.
One question remains for Ajax: what to do now? A Trabelsi
return to the first team seems out of the question. Moreover,
and in spite of countless rumours, Ajax's general director Arie
van Eijden stated repeatedly that not a singl club
officially contacted Ajax about a possible Trabelsi transfer.
Both the BBC and Reuter's press agency reported that English
sides such as Arsenal and Chelsea are only interested in the
player's services if he can be landed for free. The conflict
may have reached its legal conclusion today;
practically it has not been solved yet.
First and foremost, however, the KNVB verdict provides
a precedent of vital importance to Ajax and countless other
clubs. A Trabelsi victory would have suddenly
made 125 identical one-sided options in players
contracts in Dutch football legally
worthless. Two of those 125 players would have
been Ajax starlets as
Maxwell and
Nicolae Mitea, who are now officially tied to Ajax until
the summers of 2006 and 2007, respectively. (MP)
Sources: Ajax.nl, Voetbal International
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