Al Safa Football Club v. Bourhen Hkimi

Tunisian player Bourhen Hkimi signed with Saudi club Al Safa under an employment agreement running from July 2023 to 31 May 2024, followed by a new agreement from 1 June 2024 to 31 May 2025, with a separate payment schedule for outstanding remuneration under the first agreement signed on 3 August 2024, carrying an 18% annual interest rate on any delayed payment and an acceleration clause. Hkimi suffered femoral tendon and abductor injuries during a match on 30 August 2024, confirmed by an MRI scan on 1 September 2024. At an unspecified date afterward, the club reportedly attempted to negotiate a mutual termination with him; when that did not happen, Al Safa terminated his contract outright on 11 September 2024, telling FIFA's DRC it had just cause to do so. The DRC sided with the player and awarded him USD 144,790 in compensation for the residual value of his contract, plus 5% interest; Al Safa appealed.

Sole Arbitrator Jonathan Hall's inquiry centred on two practical questions rather than abstract legal theory: had the club given the player any warning before terminating, and whose account of the underlying events was more credible. Applying the established standard that terminating a contract before its agreed term is a measure of last resort, available only where a sufficiently serious breach makes it unreasonable to expect the employment relationship to continue, the Arbitrator found Al Safa had not issued any prior warning before acting — a significant procedural gap given how serious a step termination is. On the second question, the Arbitrator weighed the competing factual accounts and found the player's version more persuasive than the club's.

On that basis, CAS held Al Safa did not have just cause to terminate an injured player without warning, and amended the DRC's compensation figure only modestly on appeal. Costs were split 90% to the club and 10% to the player, with Al Safa also ordered to contribute CHF 3,500 toward Hkimi's legal costs — a costs outcome that tracks how one-sidedly the club lost on the merits.