Desmistificando a 'reclamação trabalhista' na Fifa

É noticiado constantemente na mídia especializada que um determinado atleta ajuizou na Fifa uma "reclamação trabalhista" para a cobrança das verbas rescisórias de seu contrato especial de trabalho desportivo. A Fifa é uma entidade mundial de administração do desporto, portanto, como privada que é, não está investida de poder jurisdicional, contudo tem o poder editar normas, assim como tem o poder de executá-las através de procedimentos administrativos próprios. Cuida-se, pois, de um verdadeiro acúmulo da função legislativa e judiciária, poderes imanentes a Estados.

A Fifa estabelece as normas mundiais e obrigatórias concernentes ao estatuto dos jogadores e sua elegibilidade para participar do futebol organizado, assim como sua transferência entre clubes de distintas associações (artigo 1º do Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players).

O artigo 12 bis do Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players dispõe que:

"12bis Overdue payables 1) Clubs are required to comply with their financial obligations towards players and other clubs as per the terms stipulated in the contracts signed with their professional players and in the transfer agreements.
2) Any club found to have a delayed a due payment for more than 30 days without a prima facie contractual basis may be sanctioned in accordance with paragraph 4 below.
 3) In order for a club to be considered to have overdue payables in the sense of the present article, the creditor (player or club) must have put the debtor club in default in writing and have granted a deadline of at least ten days for the debtor club to comply with its financial obligations(s)".

É condição sine qua non notificar o devedor outorgando-lhe o prazo de dez dias para purgar a mora. No caso de persistência da inadimplência, satisfeita essa condição prévia de procedibilidade, o atleta está livre para ajuizar a "reclamação trabalhista" na Fifa.

O artigo 22 do Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players determina a competência da Fifa nos seguintes casos:

"1) Without prejudice to the right of any player, coach, association, or club to seek redress before a civil court for employment-related disputes, FIFA is competent to hear:
a) disputes between clubs and players in relation to the maintenance of contractual stability (articles 13-18) where there has been an ITC request and a claim from an interested party in relation to said ITC request, in particular regarding the issue of the ITC, sporting sanctions or compensation for breach of contract;
b) employment-related disputes between a club and a player of an international dimension; the aforementioned parties may, however, explicitly opt in writing for such disputes to be decided by an independent arbitration tribunal that has been established at national level within the framework of the association and/or a collective bargaining agreement. Any such arbitration clause must be included either directly in the contract or in a collective bargaining agreement applicable on the parties. The independent national arbitration tribunal must guarantee fair proceedings and respect the principle of equal representation of players and clubs;
c) employment-related disputes between a club or an association and a coach of an international dimension; the aforementioned parties may, however, explicitly opt in writing for such disputes to be decided by an independent arbitration tribunal that has been established at national level within the framework of the association and/or a collective bargaining agreement. Any such arbitration clause must be included either directly in the contract or in a collective bargaining agreement applicable on the parties. The independent national arbitration tribunal must guarantee fair proceedings and respect the principle of equal representation of coaches and clubs;
d) disputes relating to training compensation (article 20) and the solidarity mechanism (article 21) between clubs belonging to different associations;
e) disputes relating to training compensation (article 20) and the solidarity mechanism (article 21) between clubs belonging to the same association provided that the transfer of a player at the basis of the dispute occurs between clubs belonging to different associations; f) disputes between clubs belonging to different associations that do not fall within the cases provided for in a), d) and e).
2) FIFA is competent to decide regulatory applications made pursuant to these regulations or any other FIFA regulations".

A "reclamação trabalhista" é dirigida ao presidente do Players Status Committee, que por sua vez deflagrará o procedimento para apurar a inadimplência imputada ao devedor.  O procedimento será enviado para a Câmara de Resolução de Disputas para as hipóteses do item 1, alíneas "a", "b", "d" e "e", e do item 2, ou a Câmara do Estatuto do Jogador, para as hipóteses do item 1, alíneas "c" e "f", e do item 2.

Imputada a responsabilidade, o devedor terá o prazo de 45 dias para pagamento, sob pena de: 1) advertência; 2) reprimenda; 3) multa; e 4) proibição de inscrição de novos atletas, tanto no âmbito nacional quanto internacional, durante os períodos de inscrição. As penas poderão ser acumuladas. A reincidência poderá agravar a pena do devedor.

Estas foram breves linhas para desmistificar o poder autoexecutório da Fifa na resolução de controvérsias sem a participação do Poder Judiciário. Desafortunadamente, frente à realidade do Brasil, a garantia da autoridade das decisões da Fifa são mais respeitadas e cumpridas pelos clubes devedores.

Referências bibliográficas
BRASIL. Constituição da República. Disponível em: http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/constituicao/ConstituicaoCompilado.htm.

SUÍÇA. Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players. Disponível em: https://digitalhub.fifa.com/m/196c746445c58051/original/Regulations-on-the-Status-and-Transfer-of-Players-August-2021.pdf