Lausanne, 16 February 2005 – The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled today on the disciplinary matter involving the French football player Philippe Mexès, AS Roma, AJ Auxerre and FIFA. The CAS dismissed the appeals filed separately by Philippe Mexès, AS Roma and AJ Auxerre and confirmed the six-week suspension imposed on Mexès by the Dispute Resolution Chamber of FIFA.

On 31 August 2004, the FIFA authorised the transfer of Philippe Mexès from AJ Auxerre to AS Roma but imposed a six-week suspension on the player for the unilateral breach of his contract with AJ Auxerre without just cause. Philippe Mexès then filed an appeal with the CAS in order to request the annulment of such suspension and to obtain the stay of the FIFA decision so that the sanction would not enter into force during the CAS proceedings. The stay of the decision was granted by CAS. Shortly after, AJ Auxerre also filed an appeal with CAS in order to request that the suspension of the player be increased to four months, which is the maximum sanction provided by the FIFA Regulations.

The dispute has been submitted to a Panel composed of Mr Jean-Philippe Rochat, Lausanne, Switzerland (President), Mr Jean-Pierre Morand, Geneva, Switzerland and Mr François Klein, Paris, France (arbitrators). A hearing was held on 24 January 2005 in Lausanne with all parties and witnesses present.

The Panel will communicate the grounds for its decision within a few weeks. The CAS specifies that the six week suspension imposed on Philippe Mexès enters into force on 16 February 2005. For the time being, any possible dispute of a pecuniary nature between Mexès, AS Roma and AJ Auxerre has not been submitted to CAS.
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