FIFA Bans Hapoel Haifa From Player Transfers for One Year
Translated & summarized from N12 by baba
FIFA has banned Hapoel Haifa from player transfers for one year, citing allegations of inducing Ofek Biton to break his contract with a Ukrainian club. The club must also pay 350,000 euros in compensation. Hapoel Haifa has appealed the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, hoping to overturn the ban and financial penalty.
The story in 5 lines · by baba
- FIFA banned Hapoel Haifa from player transfers for one year.
- The ban is due to allegations of inducing player Ofek Biton to breach his contract.
- Hapoel Haifa must pay 350,000 euros in compensation to Polissya Zhytomyr.
- The club has appealed the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
- The appeal references a precedent involving player Lassana Diarra and EU law.
FIFA has imposed a one-year transfer ban on Israeli football club Hapoel Haifa, preventing them from signing new players. The ban stems from allegations that Hapoel Haifa induced player Ofek Biton to breach his contract with Ukrainian club Polissya Zhytomyr. In addition to the transfer ban, the club was ordered to pay 350,000 euros in compensation to the Ukrainian team. Polissya Zhytomyr claims Hapoel Haifa was involved in Biton's departure and encouraged him to break his contract to join them. Hapoel Haifa has appealed the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), seeking to overturn the ban and the financial penalty. The club plans to cite the case of Lassana Diarra, where the European Court of Justice ruled in October 2024 that parts of FIFA's transfer regulations conflict with European law. Hapoel Haifa, owned by Yoav Katz, is awaiting the outcome of their appeal, hoping to have the sanctions lifted. According to the agreement between Biton and Hapoel Haifa, the player is responsible for covering the costs associated with the legal proceedings, including the CAS appeal.
