Eran Zahavi will receive compensation in the amount of three million dollars from his former Chinese team Guangzhou R.P., it was finally determined today (Sunday) by the CAS – the High Court of Appeals in Sports. As you may remember, FIFA ruled in favor of Zahavi in the legal dispute between the parties when it determined in July 2021 that Guangzhou was the one that violated the agreement and ruled in favor of Zahavi in compensation in the amount of 2.7 million dollars, but the Chinese appealed the decision, were rejected again and will pay a higher amount to Zahavi.
Zahavi arrived in China in June 2016 and left the team after almost four years, in September 2020 when he moved to the Dutch PSV Eindhoven. Since then the parties have been in a legal dispute and the parties have filed mutual claims amounting to millions of dollars – Gwangju claimed that the striker violated the agreement and hence he and his team at the time, PSV, should compensate it with approximately 35 million dollars. As mentioned, FIFA ruled in favor of the striker and then Guangzhou appealed to CAS, which decided today to approve FIFA’s decision in the summer of 2021.
CAS tasked Gavagnojo to also pay Zahabi legal expenses for conducting the proceedings, and therefore the meaning of the decision is a final rejection of a claim amounting to tens of millions of dollars against Zahabi and that Zahabi is now entitled to receive the compensation awarded to him by FIFA at the time plus interest (the amount currently stands at over for 3 million dollars).Zahavi was represented at FIFA and CAS by lawyers Yossi Geir and Amri Appelbaum from the Gornicki GNY law firm.
Omri Appelbaum and Yossi Geyer, the lawyers who handled the case at the Gornicki GNY law firm: “We welcome the ruling of the CAS which adopted the FIFA decision and stated that there was no fault in Eran’s conduct and that it was Gwangju who violated the agreement with him and acted in bad faith Lev and contrary to FIFA regulations in a way that entitles the player to proper compensation.”