BASKETBALL ARBITRAL TRIBUNAL (BAT) AWARDS AGAINST A CLUB IN CRISIS: LESSONS FROM THE TRAPANI SHARK EXCLUSION
When a club in financial difficulty stops paying, the Basketball Arbitral Tribunal (BAT) is often the first and fastest forum available to a player, coach or agent.
The recent collapse of Trapani Shark, an Italian Serie A club, that was also competing in the Basketball Champions League, shows both the strengths of the BAT system and its limits.
In the weeks around Christmas 2025 the club’s season unravelled; in early January 2026, it forfeited a Champions League play-in match on court; and on 13 January 2026, the National Sports Judge of the Italian Basketball Federation (FIP) excluded it from the 2025-26 Serie A championship.
The collapse
As publicly reported, all matches already played were cancelled, the club was fined €600,000 (around Sw. Frs. 555,000) and its players were released.
The exclusion followed points deductions for unpaid tax and social security contributions.
On 16 July 2026, the FIP Federal Council revoked the club’s affiliation.
The club is challenging these decisions before the administrative courts, with a hearing on the merits reportedly set for January 2027.
Why the BAT matters in a crisis like this
A BAT clause in the contract gives a creditor a fast, low-cost route to an enforceable title. The seat is Geneva; a single arbitrator decides, as a rule, on one written submission per party; and the arbitrator endeavours to issue the award within six weeks of the close of the proceedings.
Where the sum in dispute does not exceed €50,000 (around Sw. Frs. 46,000), or the claim is not disputed, the award is issued without reasons, which further reduces time and cost.
Where the parties have agreed to it, the Payment Order Procedure (POP) allows a creditor with a monetary claim of up to €25,000 (around Sw. Frs. 23,000) to obtain a Final Payment Order, with the effects of a final and binding award, if the respondent does not object within 14 days of the Provisional Payment Order.
From award to payment
With a club in crisis, the difficulty is not winning but collecting. A BAT award is a Swiss-seated award and can, in principle, be recognised and enforced in Italy under the 1958 New York Convention, through the competent Court of Appeal.
It is final and binding once communicated and can be challenged only before the Swiss Federal Supreme Court on the limited grounds set out in Article 190(2) of the Swiss Private International Law Act of 18 December 1987.
As at the end of 2023, only eight requests for annulment were known and none had succeeded.
But exclusion from a championship, or even the loss of federation affiliation, does not extinguish the club’s debts: the legal entity remains the debtor unless it is wound up. What disappears is leverage, because federation-level consequences for non-payment lose much of their force once the club has left the system. If insolvency proceedings are opened, claims must be filed within them on time.
There is also a structural point. By submitting to the BAT Rules, the parties waive any right to request provisional or conservatory measures from the state courts (Article 10.4), although the arbitrator may order such measures, including ex parte in cases of extreme urgency. Security for payment, therefore, needs to be built into the contract itself.
Practical lessons for players, agents and coaches
- Watch for red flags: late salary payments, points deductions linked to tax or social security arrears, forfeits and registration blocks.
- Include a BAT clause: name the BAT, list the parties’ email addresses and, where appropriate, provide for the POP.
- Secure the money: bank guarantees, escrow arrangements and shorter instalments are preferable to back-loaded salary schedules.
- Act early: document each default, send formal notices, terminate where justified and file with the BAT promptly, rather than waiting for the club to cure.
- Monitor the debtor: follow federation decisions and any insolvency notices, as deadlines to file claims can be short.
In BAT 2390/25, which was decided on 1 April 2026, three months after the club’s exclusion, the author of this NEWS item, acting for the player Akwasi Abeyie Yeboah and his agency, obtained an award against Trapani Shark S.r.l. for unpaid salary and agency fees, with interest at 5% per annum. The club was ordered to bear 80% of the arbitration costs and to contribute to the claimants’ legal fees. Issued without reasons, because the sum in dispute was below €50,000 (around Sw. Frs. 46,000), the award shows that the BAT can deliver an enforceable title even when the debtor is no longer competing.
We advise players, agents, coaches and clubs on payment security, termination and recovery strategies in basketball, including before the BAT, and further information is available from the Head of our Spanish Law Practice, Pablo Pérez, by emailing him at perez@valloni.ch.