FIBA Rules in Favor of Maccabi

By Amy Samin

FIBA Secretary General Patrick Baumann has delivered a long and detailed ruling that analyzes all of the evidence in detail, including the contracts and the e-mails exchanged between the parties prior to the signing of the contract, as well as all of the material presented to him by the legal representative of Yogev Ohayon and by attorney Tal Rothman, the legal advisor of the Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv Basketball Club, stating clearly and unequivocally that Yogev Ohayon is bound by a contract with Maccabi for the 2012 – 2013 season.

The Secretary General of FIBA emphasized that since the start of negotiations between the parties, Maccabi has insisted that the player’s exit option will only be valid at the end of the 2012 – 2013 season, something to which the player’s agent agreed. The sentence in the contract which states that the exit option will only be valid at the end of 2012 – 2013 appears in three drafts of the contract without changes, as well as in the preliminary contract written in English and in the standard contract for budgetary control purposes of the Israeli League written in Hebrew, which was signed by both parties.

Therefore, the Secretary General determined that there was no mistake in the matter, and that the language of the contract clearly states the explicit intention and agreement of the parties to the agreement. In light of FIBA’s ruling, it is absolutely clear that by signing a contract with Lokomotiv Kuban the player has committed a severe breach of his agreement with Maccabi.

As far as Maccabi is concerned, the decision by the Secretary General of FIBA further strengthens the club’s position in protecting the principle of honoring the mutual agreement.

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