Superstar Rangers, one of the premier football clubs in Trinidad, goes to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Switzerland today, hoping to convince the three-member arbitration panel that Portuguese powerhouse Sport Lisboa e Benfica owe them more than $9.4 million for the transfer of a player more than five years ago. According to Rangers’ manager Richard Fakoory, this is the final hurdle for his club to seek redress after FIFA, the world governing body for the sport found that Benfica had no obligation to pay the transfer fee to Rangers. The dispute started in 1999 when Rangers signed up Alejandro Cichero, a promising Venezuelan player.
According to Fakoory, Cichero was not yet a member of the Venezuelan national team, but exhibited a style of football which was attractive to his club. “We brought this guy over to Trinidad to play for us,” Fakoory added when Newsday spoke with him last week. A football scout came to Trinidad and saw Cichero and immediately arranged for him to undergo trials with Benfica in Portugal. And according to Fakoory, there was an agreement that once Benfica decided to keep Cichero, the Portuguese club will pay the transfer fee of US$1.5 million. Fakoory said when the time came for payment sometime in March 2001, Benfica reneged, claiming there was no agreement and therefore no money was due to the Trinidad and Tobago club.
When talks broke down between the parties, Rangers took the matter to FIFA. After hearing submissions from both sides, FIFA ruled against Rangers. Fakoory said his club decided to appeal to the highest legal forum for sport —the Court of Arbitration for Sport based in Geneva. “It has now reached the arbitration stage and we are hoping that they will see things our way,” Fakoory added. Three arbitrators have assembled in Geneva for today’s hearing. They are Urich Haas of Germany, Om Lalla, of Trinidad, and Olivier Carrard, of Switzerland. Fakoory has also turned to Portuguese lawyers to fight his legal battles. The team will be headed by the very experienced Dr Silva Cordeiro.
But Fakoory will not be in Geneva today for the hearing, preferring to leave it to his lawyers to convince the CAS members that Rangers should be paid the transfer fee. Cichero who has been at the centre of this controversy, is no longer playing with Benfica. He plies his trade in Italy, and is now a member of the Venezue-lan World Cup team. Trinidadian Om Lalla was appointed to CAS last year and is a member of a team of a number of eminent, internationally renowned lawyers with special expertise in sports-related matters. Lalla is the first Trinidadian to occupy a seat on CAS in the 20-year history of the organisation.