Court to rule on compensation if Alvarez joins Barcelona after Atletico termination

According to "Mundo Deportivo", there is an extreme possibility of Alvarez leaving: he unilaterally terminates his contract with Atletico Madrid and then joins Barcelona, with the compensation amount to be determined by the court.

The media outlet first reported yesterday that FIFA has no jurisdiction to intervene in any potential dispute between Barcelona and Atletico Madrid. Therefore, if Atletico Madrid files a complaint with world football's highest governing body, since this matter involves two Spanish clubs and falls within the Spanish legal framework, the relevant complaint will not proceed.

This situation is similar to the Griezmann case in 2019. At that time, FIFA also did not intervene, and the matter was handled by the Royal Spanish Football Federation. Atletico Madrid successfully proved that Barcelona had previously been in contact with the former French forward, and as a result, Barcelona was financially penalized.

The applicable regulation for such situations is Royal Decree 1006/1985, which governs the special labor relations of professional athletes in Spain and is subject to the Workers' Statute. Under this legal framework, a release clause is considered a mechanism for early termination of a contractual relationship.

Normally, if Alvarez wants to leave Atletico Madrid without hindrance, he would need to pay the amount agreed upon in the contract. In this case, this amount is 500 million euros. Furthermore, the Royal Decree also stipulates that this amount should be borne by the player himself.

However, Article 16 also provides for another scenario. The article states: "If a professional athlete terminates the contract at his own will, without any fault attributable to the club, the club shall be entitled to compensation where applicable; if the parties have not agreed on this, the labor judicial body shall determine the compensation amount based on the sporting circumstances, the damage caused to the club, the reasons for termination, and other factors that the player deems assessable."

This opens up space for an extreme hypothesis: Alvarez unilaterally terminates his contract with Atletico Madrid and subsequently joins Barcelona, without having previously paid a release clause or a transfer fee. In this case, the court will determine the appropriate compensation amount.

The second paragraph of the same Article 16 also stipulates that the new club will bear supplementary responsibility for this amount: "If the athlete signs with another club or sports entity within one year from the date of termination of the contract, that club or entity shall bear supplementary responsibility for the aforementioned monetary obligations."

Furthermore, according to this legal interpretation, the Royal Spanish Football Federation should provide the necessary federation procedures for the player's registration with the new club to guarantee his right to work, while economic issues await judicial resolution.

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