TAD agrees with Adán and annuls the decision that prevented the goalkeeper from playing with Benfica.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAD) ruled in favor of Sporting goalkeeper Antonio Adán and declared null and void the decision of the Disciplinary Council (CD) of the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) that prevented the footballer from playing with Benfica.
“The Arbitration College unanimously decides to judge the arbitration request presented by the Claimant (Antonio Adán) as valid and declares the nullity raised and the invalidity of the acts carried out after the presentation of the defense by the Claimant, and, consequently, the process must be returned to the Defendant (Portuguese Football Federation)”, referred to the TAD’s arbitration decision released today.
Adán was sent off in the home victory on May 13th against Marítimo (2-1), after receiving two yellow cards, in the 32nd round of the 2022/23 Portuguese Football League I, having been prevented from playing in the next round , in the match against Benfica.
The goalkeeper’s appeal ended up being rejected by the FPF CD, which maintained the suspension, with the ruling pointing to an improper hierarchical appeal as the reason for maintaining a one-game suspension for the Spanish goalkeeper.
In addition to the lack of receipt of documentation in a timely manner due to computer problems related to the sending and reception of “e-mails”, the suspension would also continue, they claimed, due to the doctrine of the arbitrator’s authority, in the Tiago Martins case, which judged the meeting and prepared the match report.
Now, the TAD says that the goalkeeper “met the requirements” by sending the defense to the “required email address” and that the computer problems are not his responsibility.
“Moreover, and of special importance, he did so through one of the email addresses that, in a timely manner (by communication dated July 28, 2022), he registered with the Defendant, as required by the latter. If so, having completed all the steps determined by the Defendant, nothing more could be required of the Claimant. If the email received by the Defendant was, by its computer systems, forwarded to the spam folder and was not detected by it, such a circumstance can only be alleged against the Defendant”, adds the document.
The TAD states that the “disregard for the defense correctly presented” by Adán is “legally unacceptable”, stressing that, in practice, it amounted to “the absence of granting the right to exercise it”.
