Arbitral Award Basketball Arbitral Tribunal (Bat)
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ARBITRAL AWARD (BAT 0584/14) by the BASKETBALL ARBITRAL TRIBUNAL (BAT) Mr. Quentin Byrne-Sutton in the arbitration proceedings between Mr. Andrea Trinchieri Cremona, Italy - Claimant - represented by Mr. Alexandros Vagiatas, attorney at law, 1. Ermou Street, 54625 Thessaloniki, Greece vs. Hellenic Basketball Federation OAKA Stadium, 37 Kifissias Avenue, 15123 Maroussi, Athens, Greece - Respondent - represented by Mr. Sofoklis P. Pilavios, attorney at law, 29 Irodotou str., 10673 Athens, Greece 1. The Parties 1. Mr. Andrea Trinchieri is a professional basketball coach (hereinafter referred to as the “Coach” or the “Claimant”). 2. The Hellenic Basketball Federation is the governing body for the sport of basketball in Greece (hereinafter referred to as the “HBF” or the “Respondent”). 2. The Arbitrator 3. On 14 July 2014, Prof. Richard H. McLaren, the President of the Basketball Arbitral Tribunal (the "BAT"), appointed Mr. Quentin Byrne-Sutton as arbitrator pursuant to Article 8.1 of the Rules of the Basketball Arbitral Tribunal (hereinafter the "BAT Rules"). Neither of the Parties has raised any objections to the appointment of the Arbitrator or to his declaration of independence. 3. Facts and Proceedings 3.1 Summary of the Dispute 4. On 2 January 2013, the Coach and the HBF entered into an agreement (the “Agreement"), whereby the latter “… employs Mr. Trinchieri as the Head Coach of the Senior men National Team of Greece …” (the “Greek national team”). In the Agreement, the Respondent is referred to as “E.O.K.” which stands for the HBF in Greek. 5. Article 2 of the Agreement provides that: “The duration of this contract will be a two (2) year guaranteed contract which will be effective immediately upon the signing of the agreement and will expire immediately after the Men’s World Championship in 2014”. 6. The Coach’s tasks, responsibilities and duties are defined in articles 3-9 of the Arbitral Award 2/25 (BAT 0584/14) Agreement. 7. Under those provisions, the Coach was entitled to be employed professionally by another team during the term of the Agreement, i.e. to have two simultaneous employments. 8. Accordingly, in June 2013, Mr. Trinchieri obtained a contract for the 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 seasons as full-time coach for the Russian professional basketball club Unics Kazan. That contract stipulated under Section III, clause 3.2 that: the “… Club declares to recognize the part-time contract signed between the Specialist [the Coach] and the Greek National Team for the sports seasons 2013/14 and 2014/15” and under Section II provided that “The season for the Coach shall begin on 2-3 days after The Greek National Team finishes its performance in the European Championship and shall finish in 5 days after the last official game of the Club in the Russian championship (VTB), regular season and playoffs, or European competitions in 2014/2015 …”. 9. According to article 4 of the Agreement: “The Coach will be responsible for planning, organizing, monitoring and guiding the Men’s National Basketball Team of Greece in all official and friendly games in Greece and abroad and lead them in achieving their goals and objectives…” 10. The Coach also had the discretion to determine the modalities and duration of the training periods as well as friendly games and tournaments required to prepare the national team for the European Championship in Slovenia in September 2013 and the World Championship in Spain in September 2014. 11. Article 5 of the Agreement stipulates that “The coach is obligated to attend meetings of the Members of the Board or the Committee of the National teams of the Federation as well as events organized by the Federation’s sponsors and financial supporters whenever required …”. 12. Articles 7 and 8 of the Agreement provide, respectively, that Arbitral Award 3/25 (BAT 0584/14) “The Coach should in any case, present in Greece by July 15th during the course of this two (2) year agreement, for the preparation and the guidance of the Men’s National Team for the European Championship/World Championship. The Coach will be present in Greece till the end of the two international events in which the National Team participates.” and “The Coach is obligated to inform the responsible persons appointed by the Federation in case of emergency that will result a delay of his arrival in Greece”. 13. According to article 11 of the Agreement, the Coach would be paid via four installments, amounting to a total net amount of EUR 110,000, between 1 June 2013 and 24 September 2013, in connection with the 2013 European Championship; and another four installments, also amounting to a net sum of EUR 110,000, between 1 June 2014 and 16 September 2014, in connection with the 2014 World Championship. 14. In relation to the Coach’s above compensation, article 11 further stipulates that: “After the end of each year of this two (2) year agreement E.O.K. is obligated to provide the Coach with an official Tax Statement from the Government or E.O.K. itself that will indicate that: ALL Legal Taxes arising from this agreement have been paid to the Greek Government”. In that connection, article 15 also stipulates that copies of the Agreement shall be given to each party “… including one to the TAX OFFICE”. 15. In 2013, as planned, the Coach officiated as head coach for the Greek men’s senior national team in preparation for and during the European Championship in Slovenia and was duly paid the two first installments of EUR 25,000 on 13 June and 8 July 2013, i.e. a total of EUR 50,000, as provided in the Agreement. The two payments to the Coach were made without any invoices being issued by him. 16. However, the second two installments, contractually due on 1st August 2013 (EUR 25,000) and 24 September 2013 (EUR 35,000), were not paid and remained outstanding. Arbitral Award 4/25 (BAT 0584/14) 17. At the 2013 European Championship in Slovenia, the Greek national team did not achieve its objectives and it was generally felt that its performance was poor compared to expectations. 18. After the last official game of the Greek national team at the European Championship on 16 September 2013, the Coach returned to Russia to resume his job as coach for the club Unics Kazan. 19. Thereafter, there was very little contact between the parties until May 2014. 20. Meanwhile, as announced by FIBA on 1 February 2014, thanks to a “Wild Card”, the Greek team qualified for the 2014 World Championship, to take place in Spain. 21. On 30 January and 1 February 2014, just before and immediately after the official announcement that Greece had obtained a “Wild Card”, several articles in the Greek press quoted alleged statements by the President of the HBF making it clear that with respect to the 2014 World Championship the HBF intended to replace Mr. Trinchieri by a new head coach. In that connection, the Coach declares that he was aware from the beginning of 2014 of press articles stating that the HBF intended to hire a new national team coach, who would be Greek. 22. On 14 May 2014, at 9:59 am, the Coach send an email as follows to the HBF: “To mr Sevastiadis, to mr Tsagronis and to whom it may concern It has been several days (7) since I answered to your email with the request of a meeting, and I didn't receive any reply yet. Since eurobasket 2013 I was waiting for months to receive any form of communication from the chiefs of EOK, the only kind of info I got was an official interview of the president Mr Vasilakopoulos he gave in february 2014 announcing that greek basketball national team is going to change coach and a sms from mr Sevastiadis on march 19th. I called back and spoke with mr Sevastiadis and said that I would like to meet and to have a talk to solve our issues. At this point I thought EOK will call me and discuss how to proceed, but nothing happened. Arbitral Award 5/25 (BAT 0584/14) Actually I tried to contact mr Moronis (chief accountant of greek federation) several times with no success. I want strongly to believe what is written in your email: from the federation they don't want any bad feelings because I have the same goal. I felt kind of urgency in your request of a meeting. This is my upcoming game schedule with BC Unics 14/05/2014 final of russian cup in krasnodar 18-19/ 05, 22-23/05 and 26/05 1/4 finals vtb league with krasne kryla 29-30/05, 2-3/05 and 06/05 1/2 finals vtb league with the winner of lokomotiv vs Cska All series are best of 5 I'm willing to come and meet you ASAP I would have a break in my obligations. In order to fulfill your need of urgency I believe that a representative of mine in Athens would help us to proceed in our discussion. This is the reason I choose mr Nick Lotsos as representative. Time is running, I still have a fully guarantee contract until the end of Spain World championship 2014. We both have to take care of the most important thing the Greek National team!! The team can't wait and i don't want to be late. I already prepare the first list of players and the dates of the preparation and I'm ready to announce it”. 23. On 14 May 2014, at 14:38 EEST, the HBF replied by email as follows to the Coach: “Dear Andrea, The Board of the Hellenic Basketball Federation is obliged to point out to you that after the end of the 2013 European Championship you have interrupted, without any justification, any type of communication with the Federation, written or oral.