Turin Labour Court Upholds Arbitration Award in Cristiano Ronaldo–Juventus Salary Dispute

In a dispute of Cristiano Ronaldo against Juventus, the Turin Labour Court has fully dismissed the challenge brought by the Bianconeri club against the arbitral award issued on 17 April 2024. The dispute concerns unpaid remuneration relating to the 2020/2021 season and is now definitively resolved: the arbitration award has been entirely upheld, confirming Ronaldo’s entitlement to compensation of approximately €10 million, in addition to interest and indexation.

In a judgment featuring extensive and detailed legal reasoning, the court found all the arguments raised by the club to be unfounded and reaffirmed the correct application of civil law principles relating to pre-contractual liability and the protection of legitimate reliance. During the pandemic, Ronaldo had agreed to temporarily forgo part of his salary, but Juventus failed to honour the agreement, thereby breaching the trust placed in it by the Portuguese player.

The ruling represents a significant precedent in sports employment law.

Cristiano Ronaldo was represented by a legal team comprising John Shehata, equity partner at BIP Law and Tax; Professor Emanuele Lucchini Guastalla of Bocconi University; Professor Fabio Iudica of the University of Milan; and Paola Tradati, equity partner at Gatti Pavesi Bianchi Ludovici. The team played a decisive role in shaping the legal claims, reconstructing the contractual framework and highlighting the substantive legal issues at stake.

Photo: © Reuters