One of European football's "most prominent clubs" has been ordered to pay €12M ($13.1M) "to an investment fund after losing a lawsuit at the top court in international sports," according to to Tariq Panja of BLOOMBERG. Sporting Clube de Portugal, an 18-time national champion known as Sporting Lisbon, "was found to have illegally withheld payment to Malta-based Doyen Sports Investments." The club "owed a portion of the transfer fee" from its €20M sale of Argentine defender Marcos Rojo to ManU in '14. The Portuguese club said that the fund "forced through Rojo’s transfer against its wishes and that the contract was not valid because it was abusive to the team." The Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration for Sport "disagreed." The club's statement said that Sporting "must also pay" Doyen 75% of the fee it would receive should ManU sell Rojo for more than €23M. The court’s ruling also "includes punishment over an agreement Sporting had with Doyen for midfielder Zakaria Labyad." The club said, "Sporting does not accept the judgment." The club is "evaluating all legal avenues at its disposal and will appeal the fine, which also includes interest payments." A spokesman for Doyen was not "able to immediately comment." Kazakh-owned Doyen has "been under scrutiny recently after confidential company documents were leaked on the Internet." Doyen has said that it has "always acted properly." The fund is also in litigation to overturn the FIFA rule that has "in effect banned funds like Doyen from profiting" fom the $5B player trading market (BLOOMBERG, 12/21).
