FIFA clears Benin midfielder Imourane Hassani as Modern Sport loses $1.4m contractual dispute

FIFA’s Dispute Resolution Chamber has cleared Benin international Imourane Hassani of wrongdoing after rejecting Modern Sport’s $1.4 million compensation claim over a disputed contract involving the player.

The Egyptian club had filed a complaint against Hassani, his former Beninese club Lotto Popo and Swiss side Grasshoppers Zurich, seeking compensation and sporting sanctions over what it claimed was a breach of contract.

Modern Sport argued that Hassani had signed a four-year agreement with the club covering the period from the 2024/25 season until the end of the 2027/28 campaign, with the deal reportedly worth $520,000.

The club also demanded that Hassani pay at least $1.4 million in compensation and called for him to be suspended for four months. It further requested sanctions against any club found to have encouraged the player to breach his contractual obligations.

However, FIFA’s Dispute Resolution Chamber rejected the claims in their entirety after determining that Modern Sport had failed to provide sufficient evidence that Hassani had agreed to the disputed four-year contract.

Hassani had denied signing the agreement, explaining that when he initially joined Modern Sport, he signed blank or incomplete documents for registration purposes. He claimed those documents were subsequently used to prepare the disputed contract without his knowledge or consent.

FIFA noted that the disputed contract did not contain a signing date and that Modern Sport had failed to provide correspondence or negotiations demonstrating how the duration, financial terms and other essential conditions of the agreement had been reached.

The chamber also pointed out that Hassani had repeatedly denied the existence of the contract, while Modern Sport did not adequately respond to his request for confirmation that there was no contractual relationship between the parties beyond the 2023/24 season.

Although FIFA considered Hassani’s admission that he had signed blank or incomplete documents to constitute negligence, the chamber ruled that this did not establish that he had agreed to the essential terms of the four-year contract.

The dispute originated from Hassani’s loan move to Modern Sport from Lotto Popo in September 2023. The Egyptian club paid $20,000 for the loan and had an option to sign the player permanently for $50,000, provided it notified Lotto Popo before May 30, 2024.

Modern Sport said it notified the Beninese club on April 18, 2024 of its intention to activate the purchase option and attempted to make the required payment. However, the club claimed the funds were returned because of banking problems.

Lotto Popo subsequently refused to complete the permanent transfer, arguing that Modern Sport had failed to meet the required payment obligations within the agreed deadlines.

Hassani later left Egypt on May 28, 2024 to join the Benin national team and did not return to Modern Sport after completing his international duties.

Modern Sport repeatedly asked the player to return to training before announcing on August 16, 2024 that it had terminated his alleged four-year contract because of his continued absence and failure to comply with the club’s instructions.

FIFA, however, determined that Hassani’s original loan agreement remained valid until August 18, 2024, when the Egyptian season ended.

The chamber noted that Modern Sport’s termination letter specifically referred to the disputed four-year contract rather than the original loan agreement. It therefore concluded that the initial agreement was not prematurely terminated and instead expired normally.

Lotto Popo had also submitted a counterclaim seeking payment of the $20,000 loan fee plus five percent annual interest. FIFA ruled that the request was procedurally inadmissible because it was submitted after the deadline for counterclaims.

In its final ruling, the Dispute Resolution Chamber rejected Modern Sport’s complaint in full, meaning Hassani was not ordered to pay any compensation and no sporting sanctions were imposed on him.

FIFA also imposed no restrictive measures on Lotto Popo or Grasshoppers Zurich.

The parties have the right to appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) within 21 days of receiving the ruling.