• Striker tested positive for cocaine in 2004
• Swiss Federal Court rejects Mutu’s final appeal
Adrian Mutu has been ordered to pay his former club Chelsea a record 17m Euros (£14.3m) in compensation after losing his final appeal in a legal battle which has lasted more than five years, the Swiss Federal Court has announced.
Mutu was sacked by Chelsea in September 2004 after testing positive for cocaine. The Romania striker received a seven-month ban from football, but the London club took a firm stance and sacked him before then suing him to recover the money they paid to sign him.
Mutu rebuilt his career first at Juventus and then at Fiorentina once he was able to play again, but the incident has dogged him ever since as Fifa, the world governing body, ordered him to pay compensation to Chelsea, and his appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport against the fine failed.
He was given a glimmer of hope when the Swiss Federal Court temporarily suspended the fine, but it has now decided the 31-year-old must pay the full amount plus interest. The court confirmed today that it has upheld the decision made by Fifa and the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
In a statement it said: “In a ruling on 10 June, 2010, the Swiss Federal Court rejected the appeal formed by Adrian Mutu against the decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. The CAS ordered the Romanian professional footballer to pay a sum superior to €17m to his former employer, Chelsea Football Club Limited.”
“[The court] first rejected the arguments by which the footballer questioned the impartiality of two of the three arbitrators who rendered the decision. On those merits, the federal court recalled that, in the field of international arbitration, it does not retry the case, as a court of appeal would, but can check only certain aspects very limited to the basis of recorded facts in the imposed sentence.
“In this case, the federal court had only to consider whether the amount of damages/interest allocated to the London club violated the core values that all judicial systems should follow. They came to the conclusion that this was not the case, so that the Romanian footballer’s appeal was unfounded.”
Mutu is currently serving a nine-month ban after testing positive for sibutramine in January and will be allowed to return to football on 29 October 29.
Chelsea, who paid £15.8m for Mutu in August 2003, have declined to comment.
Chelseaguardian.co.uk
