Translator：Jiang Wenyu

In early February of this year, Mr. Zhang Bing and Ms. Zhuang Yu of Landing Law Offices were appointed by Chinese soccer player Li Shuai (hereinafter referred to as "the player") to represent him in a wage arrears dispute with the Chinese Super League club, Dalian Professional F.C. (hereinafter referred to as the "club"), and applied for a ruling of free membership.

On the evening of April 29, 2022, the last day of the closing of the registration winter window this year, the Arbitration Committee of the Chinese Football Association (CFA) issued a ruling upholding all the player's arbitration claims, ruling that the player immediately obtained free agency and ruling that the club should pay a high amount of arrears of wages in one lump sum within 15 days. This ruling is a historic ruling on the win-win situation of Chinese player's free body and salary, which has aroused great attention in the industry and set a model for subsequent rulings in similar cases.

Landing lawyers communicated with the player in the early stage to fully understand the structure of salary and bonus, formulated the corresponding strategy for free agency application, drafted the arbitration application form and submitted the relevant evidence to the Arbitration Committee of the Chinese Football Association (CFA) in a booklet.

To ensure the player's free agency during the registration period, Landing lawyers applied for a partial award in writing as well as orally on several occasions, fully arguing that the rules of access and free agency are not in contradiction with each other, which was recognized by the arbitration tribunal. In addition, even in the context of the new policy of the Chinese Football Association (CFA) to give clubs a grace period to pay wages in arrears, the player was awarded a lump sum payment of wages in arrears within 15 days, which laid a solid foundation for the quick enforcement of the award.

The Sports and Entertainment Law Team of Landing Law Offices has long been committed to providing professional legal services to domestic and international sports and entertainment industry organizations and practitioners, and has rich experience in practicing in the professional soccer and basketball fields to ensure that our clients maintain a leading position in the development of the industry.