ROME, Nov 25 — Top division Italian soccer team Genoa faces sanctions that could include a points deduction or even demotion after failing to pay a debt related to a player trades.
A disciplinary panel at soccer governing body FIFA will discuss sanctions at its next meeting after Genoa failed to pay Chile’s Deportivo Colo-Colo more than €144,900 euros (RM605,619) related to forward Cristobal Jorquera.
Should “Genoa Cricket and Football Club pay the outstanding amount immediately and send us a copy of proof of payment, these disciplinary proceedings will be closed,” Alejandra Salmeron Garcia, deputy secretary to FIFA’s disciplinary committee, wrote in a letter to Genoa and the Italian soccer federation, FIGC.
Under FIFA regulations Colo-Colo is owed a “solidarity” payment because Jorquera, who was transfered to a team in Turkey, trained and played with the Santiago-based club in his youth before moving to Genoa. The rules state five percent of any player transfer should be paid by the selling club to a team or teams the athlete was registered with until the age of 23. Jorquera now plays with Parma. Ignoring payments could result in a “fine, deduction of points, relegation to a lower league,” FIFA said in its letter.
Colo-Colo’s lawyer, Eduardo Carlezzo, filed a suit with FIFA, and its Dispute Resolution Chamber ruled on Feb. 27 that Genoa must pay. Genoa spokesman Dino Storace didn’t reply to two e-mails seeking comment.
Buy time
“They even don’t respect the FIFA decisions,” Carlezzo said by e-mail. “In all procedures I have already worked the only thing the club does is trying to buy time. Nothing more than that.”
The dispute with Colo-Colo isn’t Genoa’s only one concerning non-payment of transfer fees. Universidad Catolica, another Chilean team, has appealed to FIFA claiming the Italians didn’t pay money they owed after signing Argentine midfielder Lucas Pratto in 2011.
Carlezzo said Brazilian team Coritbia is owed €65,000 for Rafinha, a defender who played for Genoa before joining German champion Bayern Munich.
“They are making illegal profits on the transfer market,” Carlezzo said.
Genoa, which is 5th after 12 games in Serie A, is not the only team that hasn’t paid its transfer debts. European soccer’s governing body UEFA made it a condition that clubs pay everything they owe other teams or face bans from playing in the Europa League or Champions League competitions.
Sporting advantage
“By not paying its debts Genoa is taking an illegal sporting advantage over the other Italian clubs,” Carlezzo said.
Solidarity payments accounted for 1 per cent, or €23.2 million euros, of global transfer fees in 2011, according to a report by Brussels-based consulting firm KEA European Affairs, citing FIFA data. The payments can make up 5 percent of all fees, meaning there was a shortfall of up to €93 million in 2011, according to Bloomberg News calculations. — Bloomberg
