A Dutch court has ruled that Barca midfielder, Rafinha, must wear adidas boots or pay a fine of €10,000 for each day he continues to refuse to honour his contract, up to a maximum of €1m.
The ruling follows adidas’ claim that Rafinha had broken the terms of his contract by not wearing their boots for the last five months, instead opting to wear blacked out Mizuno boots. The Brazilian, who has been contracted to the Three Stripes since 2013, supposedly thought his contract with adidas had ended, however the brand said that they had exercised a right to extend his contract by five years. Always got to read the small print...
In the district court in Amsterdam, where the original sponsorship deal was signed, Rafinha’s legal team claimed that adidas had not offered him enough support when he suffered serious injuries in 2015 and 2017 and that was part of the reason why he wanted to break free from his story. Now, we’re no legal buffs, but this story has more holes in it than Fulham’s defence. One minute he doesn’t realise there’s an extension, next he wants to break free from his contract…
Rafinha’s legal team also said adidas had hidden the extension clause in the contract – see, small print. You would have thought lawyers would check that stuff, eh?
Adidas better make good slippers and knee braces though, coz that’s all Rafinha will be wearing for the next six months or so after he suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during last month’s draw with Atletico Madrid. In an extra “kick a man while he’s down” move, Rafinha also has to pay the costs of the trial. Could’ve been worse though; adidas wanted him to pay €100,000 for every day after 1 July when he broke his contract...
