Sports Court Rules on Marseille Club

Olympique Marseille will no longer face a one-year transfer ban after the Court of Arbitration for Sport partially upheld a ruling from FIFA regarding a dispute between the French club and English side Watford over the signing of "Baba Rahman". The dispute began in 2020 when the Senegalese international signed a preliminary contract with Watford before the end of his contract with Le Havre in the French second division. According to reports from French media, Rahman then changed his agent who recommended withdrawing from the deal. Instead, the midfielder, born in France, signed a four-year contract with Marseille in July 2020. Since then, he has appeared in 100 matches in all competitions for the club. In January 2022, FIFA suspended Rahman from participating in official matches for four months, while Marseille was banned from making transfer deals for one year for allegedly encouraging the player to breach his contract. Later that month, the Court of Arbitration for Sport suspended FIFA's ruling, but the highest sports court announced yesterday that it upheld FIFA's decision "except for the transfer ban imposed on Olympique Marseille, which has been revoked." The statement from the Court of Arbitration for Sport added, "... the court reached the same conclusion as FIFA in determining that the player had indeed terminated his contract with Watford without any justified reason." "However, the special committee of the Court of Arbitration for Sport determined that Olympique Lyon had in fact disproved the presumption of the player being motivated (to do so) and lifted the disciplinary penalty imposed on Olympique Marseille."