Decision Of The GFA On The Charles Taylor Issue

Introduction

The conduct of Charles Taylor ("the player") vis-a-vis his contract with Hearts of Oak is a well-known subject that has generated so much public interest and controversy. The Ghana Football Association (GFA) has on two (2) different occasions had to intervene to attempt a settlement of the impasse between the player and Hearts Oak-all to no avail.
After the second meeting held on 16th May 3003, the GFA advised Hearts of Oak and the Player to meet within one week and settle their impasse. The two parties regrettably failed to meet and put the unhealthy difference between them to rest.

The FA decided to seek the advice of the World Football Governing Body-FIFA on the problem between the player and his club. Based on the advice received from FIFA, and also the role of Asante Kotoko in the whole issue, the GFA identified three (3) issues for determination as follows:
Issues

i) Whether or not there was a breach of contract; if so, what sanctions should be applied?
ii) What quantum of compensation should the offending party be requested to pay?
iii) Was the player induced to breach his contract?
Decision

1. Whether or not there was breach of contract; if so, what sanctions should be applied?
The FIFA Regulations for the Status and Transfer of Players prohibits the unilateral breaches of contract. An infringement thereof attracts the relevant sanctions as provided. In this regard, we refer to Chapter VIII, which contains elaborate provisions on the maintenance of contractual stability.
Article 21 provides as follows:

1)a) In the case of all contracts signed up to the player's 28th birthday: if there is a unilateral breach without just cause or sporting just cause during the first 3 years, sports sanctions shall be applied and compensation payable.
b) In the case of contracts signed after the 28th birthday, the same principles shall apply but only during the first 2 years.
c) In the cases cited in the preceding two paragraphs, unilateral breach of contract without just cause is prohibited during the season.

2)a) Unilateral breach without just cause or sporting just cause after the first 3 years or 2 years respectively will not result in sanctions. However, sports sanctions may be pronounced on a club and/or a player's agent for inducing a beach of contract. Compensation shall be payable.
The FIFA Regulations Governing the Application of the Regulations for the status and Transfer of Players provides the circumstances under which a player may terminate his contract for just or sporting cause. It states in Chapter V.
Article 12 as follows:

A player is entitled to terminate his contract with his club unilaterally for sporting just cause where he can show at the end of a season that he was fielded in less than 10% of the official matches played by his club. The existence of such sporting just cause shall be established on a case by case basis and shall depend on the particular circumstances of the players (including, but not limited to injury, suspension, player's field position, position in the team (e.g. reserve goal keeper) player's age, reasonable expectations on the basis of past career, etc)
We have no difficulty in finding that Charles Taylor unilaterally breached his contact with Hearts of Oak without just or sporting cause. His conduct makes him liable to sporting sanction under Article 21 supra and Article 23.

Article 23 provides that:
Other than in exceptional circumstances, sports sanctions for unilateral breach of contract without just cause or sporting just cause shall be applied.
1) In the case of the player:

a) If the breach occurs at the end of the first or the second year of contract, the sanction shall be a restriction of four months on his eligibility to participate in any official football matches as from the beginning of the new season of the new club's national championship.

b) In the case of aggravating circumstances, such as failure to give notice or recurrent breach of contract, sports sanctions may be imposed for up to a maximum of six months.
Art 7 of the GFA Regulations states that:
"The Football season shall cover a period of 10 months starting from March to December."
The GFA has considered all the circumstance of the impasse between Charles Taylor and Hearts of Oak. We are of the opinion that contractual relationships between clubs and their players must be respected and upheld at all times. Unilateral beaches of contracts such as the one under consideration must be visited with deterrent punishments so as to discourage potential offenders from similar conduct. In the circumstances, we have decided to hand Charles Taylor four (4) months suspension from participation in all GFA-organised competitions from the commencement of the 2003 football season, i.e. to say from 2nd April 2003 when the breach occurred to 1st August 2003.

2) What quantum of compensation should the offending party be requested to pay?
Having determined that there was a unilateral breach of contract by Charles Taylor, we have a duty to award compensation to Hearts of Oak for the damage caused by the breach. The guidelines for awarding compensation are succinctly set out in Article 22 as follows: -
Unless specifically provided for in the contract, and without prejudice to the provisions on training compensation laid down in Art 13 ff, compensation for breach of breach of contract (whether by the player or the club), shall be calculated with due respect to the national law applicable, the specificity of sport, and all objective criteria which may be relevant to the case, such as,

1) Remuneration and other benefits under the existing contract and/or the new contract.
2) Length of time remaining on the existing contract (up to a maximum of 5 years)
3) Amount of any fee or expense paid or incurred by the former club, amortised over the length of the contract.
4) Whether the breach occurs during the period defined in article 21.1.

In determining the compensation to award Hearts of Oak, the GFA took into consideration the following factors: the guidelines for award of damages for breach of contract as provided under the labour laws of Ghana, that pursuant to his contract with Hearts of Oak, Charles Taylor received a monthly salary of ?700,000. That Charles Taylor's contract with Hearts of Oak had 3 years to run, that he received a part enticement fee of ?50,000,000 from Hearts of Oak, that the player is less than 28 years and, above all, the general economic conditions in Ghana and the purchasing power of the average Ghanaian.

After a careful evaluation of all the aggravating and mitigating circumstances of the case based on the above guidelines, the GFA hereby orders Charles Taylor to pay a compensation of (?650m) six hundred & fifty million cedis to Hearts of Oak within one month from the date hereof.
3) Was the Player induced to breach his contract? Art 23 (2) states that:

a) If the breach occurs at the end of the first or second year of the contract, the sanction shall be a ban on registering any new player, either nationally or internationally, until the expiry of the second transfer period following the date on which the breach became effective. In all cases, no restriction for unilateral breach or inducement of the breach.
b) If the breach occurs at the end of the third year of the contract (or at the end of the second year if the contract was signed after the age of 28), no sanctions shall be applied unless there was failure to give appropriate notice after the last match of the season. In such a case the sanction shall be proportionate.
c) A club seeking to register a player who has unilaterally breached a contract during the periods defined in Art. 21.1 will be presumed to have induced a breach of contract.
d) Without prejudice to the foregoing rules, other sports sanctions may be imposed by the FIFA Disciplinary Committee on clubs, where appropriate, and may include, but shall not be limited to, the following:

- Fines
- Deduction of points,
- Exclusion from competitions.
We find that Asante Kotoko induced Charles Taylor to breach his Contract with Hearts of Oak. Kotoko was first fined ?5m for featuring Charles Taylor in a football match between Kotoko and Hasaacas without permission of Hearts of Oak. Since sanctioning Kotoko, its officials have engaged in other acts which amount to inducement. These include, but not limited to; sending Charles Taylor to Takoradi in the company of the club's officials to address a meeting of supporters of Kotoko, Officials of Kotoko accompanying Charles Taylor to GFA-organised meetings, among others.

The conduct of Asante Kotoko in this case is highly reprehensible. We accordingly order Asante Kotoko to pay ?200 million to Hearts of Oak within one month from the date hereof for inducing Charles Taylor to breach his contract with Hearts of Oak.
Kumasi Asante Kotoko are also to apologise to Hearts of Oak for their conduct within a week of this release.
The GFA wishes to make it clear that the punishments for inducement of a player are very grave and may at times involve even outright suspension.
In view of the above the FA hopes that Kotoko will refrain from any such act now and in the future so as to avoid severe punishment.
4. Conclusion
The GFA takes a very serious view of breaches of contract and shall deal ruthlessly with any person/s in future. The instant case was a test case that has set the parameters for dealing with future offenders.