Atlético will have to pay Futebol Benfica, not to be confused with the well-known Sport Lisboa e Benfica, as training rights belonging to Gelson Martins. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAS), as confirmed by the Portuguese club itself to the Lusa agency, the court has given the reason to the modest team that demanded compensation for their work in Gelson Martins’ football beginnings, as stipulated by FIFA in its transfer regulations.
Gelson Martins, 25, is now a Monaco-owned player. However, in 2018 he unilaterally terminated his contract with Sporting de Portugal after a group of ultras stormed the club’s sports city and attacked one of its players. Martins decided to liquidate his contract for what he understood to be just cause and without any consideration for Sporting. However, over time, the Lisbon club and Atlético reached an agreement for the Spanish club to pay an amount as compensation that was made public in the Portuguese Stock Market Commission.
That is what Futebol Benfica has clung to, who has argued that based on that agreement there was a transfer in which the FIFA regulations would govern and, therefore, an amount would correspond to it by virtue of training rights. This amounts to about 200,000 euros plus the costs of the process. FIFA had already positioned itself in favor of Futebol Benfica’s claim, but Sporting and Atlético claimed TAS, who has not changed that decision. Gelson was part of Futebol Benfica between 2008 and 2011, during his first steps in football.