Belgian footballDejan Veljkovic may be able to get back to work as a football agent for a while. The football association does not intend to go against the ruling of the Brussels court, which annulled Veljkovic’s disciplinary sentence. But Veljkovic’s license will probably only be temporary.
Immediately after the decision of the Brussels court, lawyer Kris Luyckx announced on Friday that the football association can expect not only a claim for damages from his client Veljkovic, but also that a renewed registration application would be submitted to the association to act as a broker again. to get going. “There is no reason whatsoever that prevents that,” said Master Luyckx on Friday.
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Inquiries with Luyckx learn that the registration application will probably only be submitted to the football association in the course of Tuesday, but they are prepared there. From an ethical point of view, the association considers it unheard of that someone who has been proven to be involved in match fixing could start working again as a football agent, but at the same time the association does not want to go against the court’s ruling.
Short-term validity
In other words: when Dejan Veljkovic’s license application arrives at the association building, it will be accepted for purely legal reasons. With that renewed license, the suspension for ten years, which was pronounced against Veljkovic on the basis of a minimal part of 35 documents from the criminal file. A sanction that was confirmed by the Belgian Court of Arbitration for Sport (BAS).
The fact that Veljkovic will be able to return to work temporarily is no more than a Pyrrhic victory. In federation circles it is considered unlikely that clubs or players will call on his services.
The football association assumes that the new license for Dejan Veljkovic will only have a temporary and fairly short-lived validity. After all, the entire legal investigation is nearing its conclusion. There is no doubt about Veljkovic’s role in that extensive file: he reported to be a regrettable candidate for a reduced sentence and admitted that he was involved in an attempt at match fixing at the end of the 2017-2018 season between KV Mechelen and Waasland- beveren. Once the file has been legally completed, the case will also be submitted again to the BAS, which will then no longer be able to judge about 35 documents, but about the entire file.
Little worries about damage claims
There is no doubt at the football association that the BAS will again heavily sanction Veljkovic on the basis of the complete file and that his renewed license will then be annulled again. In other words: Dejan Veljkovic will only be able to use his renewed broker’s license for a short time – perhaps a few months. In federation circles it is considered unlikely – not to say excluded – that clubs or players will call on the services of a broker who has been guilty of an attempt at match fixing during that period. The fact that Veljkovic will be able to return to work temporarily is therefore no more than a Pyrrhic victory. The football association seems to be even less concerned about the damage claims with which Kris Luyckx threatens – Veljkovic’s lawyer speaks of ‘hundreds of thousands or perhaps millions of euros.
In federal circles, it is also maintained that they acted correctly in the summer of 2018, even though the criminal file had not yet been dealt with by a criminal court at that time. The argument that the association acted too quickly is dismissed: the series for the new season had to be classified correctly, and the list of Belgian participants had to be sent to UEFA. It is clear that sports law clashed with general law, but the association assumes that the two will eventually come to the same conclusion.
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