Beşiktaş dealt 7.8-million blow

ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News

Terminating Matteo Ferrari’s contract will cost Beşiktaş 7.8 million Euros. The Turkish club is already facing severe financial problems. Hürriyet photo

Beşiktaş suffers another blow as the Court of Arbitration in Sport (CAS) found the Istanbul club guilty Oct. 16 in a case involving former player Matteo Ferrari.

“It was decided that Beşiktaş would pay 725,664,195 Euros to Matteo Ferrari with an interest rate of 5 percent in addition to legal expenses,” the club said.

The decision is a new blow to the cash-strapped club, who has been trying to offload several players in order to keep its finances afloat.

The contract with Ferrari, who was signed in 2009, was terminated last summer. The Italian took it to the CAS, filing a suit worth 7.7 million Euros. Beşiktaş then filed a counter-lawsuit seeking compensation worth 7.75 million Euros.

The CAS urged the representatives of both sides to mutually resolve their differences but when a meeting on May 29 did not result in a mutual agreement, the final decision was left to the CAS.

Beşiktaş’ Vice-Chairman Ahmet Çebi said that the decision was definitive and the club has to make the payment in 30 days.

This is not the first time the CAS found Beşiktaş guilty in a case. In 2007, the club was forced to pay 6.7 million Euros to Vicente Del Bosque for illegally terminating the contract of the coach, who worked at the club in 2004.