Jairon Andrés Charcopa Cabezas / LDU Quito v. FC Lugano & FIFA

This dispute involved two linked appeals brought separately by Ecuadorian player Jairón Andrés Charcopa Cabezas and his club, LDU Quito, both challenging a FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber decision arising from Charcopa's transfer away from Swiss club FC Lugano.

The Sole basis of LDU's liability, as the Panel confirmed it, was a failure of due diligence: LDU had not properly confirmed that Charcopa was not still under contract with another club before signing him, and could not show any circumstance that would have excused that failure. Applying that finding, the Panel held the FIFA DRC's original decision should be confirmed in full — both its financial orders and the disciplinary sanctions it had imposed on Charcopa and on LDU itself.

Both the player's and LDU's appeals were dismissed. Charcopa and LDU were ordered to compensate FC Lugano for its legal and other costs connected to the arbitration. This case is a clear illustration that a club's own failure to verify a transfer target's contractual status before signing him is treated as the club's own independent liability, carrying disciplinary consequences of its own, separate from whatever the player himself may have done or intended.