Barcelona take Zenit St. Petersburg to court over Malcom transfer fee | OneFootball

Barcelona are set to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport for a ruling on the transfer fee paid by Zenit St. Petersburg for Brazilian winger Malcom. The 26-year-old, now operating in Saudi Arabia for Al-Hilal, joined the Russian giants from Barcelona for €41.5m in 2019.

The dispute comes over payment of one of the variables in the deal. The Blaugrana claim they are owed €490k for Zenit qualifying for the Champions League, whereas as Zenit say that they are not liable for that fee, as they never ended up competing in the Champions League. UEFA banned Russian sides from competing due to the invasion of Ukraine.

Based on league position they would have qualified, but in the initial FIFA case, Judge Thulaganyo Gaoshubelwe ruled that Zenit should not be required to share an economic benefit they never gained, and that the invasion of Ukraine was not directly attributable to Zenit, thus they were not responsible for it either. According to MD, the appeal is set for the 22nd of March. Malcom was sold to Al-Hilal for €60m last summer.