Premier League club Floriana FC have been ordered by FIFA to pay close to €100,000 in compensation to former coach Gianluca Atzori over breaches in his contract.
Atzori left Floriana FC in May 2023 after two seasons in charge.
Initially Floriana FC had announced that the Italian coach had decided to leave the club with immediate effect despite having one year left on his contract.
But in an interview with the Times of Malta, the former Sampdoria and Reggina coach had alleged he was forced to leave Floriana due to a negative change in attitude by some at the club, which also resulted in a situation of unpaid wages.
The FIFA Player Status Chamber, and eventually the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS), have now confirmed his version of events and ordered the Premier League club to pay him a hefty amount in compensation.
Contacted by the Times of Malta, Atzori said that he was pleased that the FIFA and CAS hearings confirmed justice will be made, following a two-year battle to receive salaries he had actually worked for.
“These verdicts simply confirm the right and fair way of doing things. When I was left with no other option but to step down, my only request was to receive unpaid wages covering my work at the club,” Atzori said.
“I could never understand why the president had insisted on not respecting this basic principle and today’s confirmed decisions were a natural and obvious outcome.
“But honestly it is not time to stir controversy. Floriana FC represents a positive experience in my career of which I have fond memories.
“I believe we had started an ambitious football project which I believe could have gone very far. But it was not meant to be. That is football, that is life.”
Atzori expressed appreciation towards the “numerous Floriana supporters” who kept in touch with him throughout the past months and encouraged them to keep on backing the Greens “in their unique passionate way.”
Atzori arrived at the club in 2021 and in his first season in charge, he helped Floriana not only to challenge Hibernians for the Premier League title, before finishing as runners-up, but went on to win the FA Trophy after defeating Valletta in the final.
In his second season in charge, an inconsistent Floriana struggled to get going as the team failed to challenge any silverware and missed out on a place in Europe finishing in seventh place.
Work conditions
Claiming it had become impossible to work in a serious manner under the club’s leadership, the Italian manager decided to make way.
Atzori had explained how he tried to reach an amicable settlement with Floriana over three months of unpaid wages but no agreement was reached, forcing the Italian coach to write a complaint to FIFA instead of the Malta FA Complaints Board whom he questioned its competence on the matter.
In his complaint to FIFA Players Status Chamber, Atzori and his lawyers contended that the Italian coach was not paid the salaries for February, March and April.
Added to that, he maintained that he was not paid the UEFA qualification bonus as well as other bonuses agreements that were stipulated in his contract.
Atzori asked FIFA to be awarded “compensation corresponding to the residual monthly salaries of the Claimant, plus legal interest from this claim’s filing date until full settlement.”
Atzori also claimed that he “had just cause to terminate the contract in accordance with the regulations due to the outstanding remuneration of more than two months salaries while also added that he put the club in default before terminating the contract.
In their reply to Atzori’s claim, Floriana FC said that in April 2023, Atzori had already expressed his intention to leave the club.
Added to that, Floriana FC alleged that Atzori “had offered his services for youth coaching in Italy as of June 6, 2022, which constitutes a breach by the coach”.
Moreover, the club stated that it tried to solve the dispute by offering terms for a termination agreement.
“The club stated that the parties agreed on the basic terms of this agreement, without having signed the agreement yet,” the FIFA documents said.
Floriana FC explained that the delay of payments occurred due to ‘temporary financial difficulties’.
In this regard the club argued that those events had “abrogating effect”.
In its ruling, dated December 14, 2023, FIFA dismissed Floriana’s claims and ordered the Maltese Premier League club €25,765 as outstanding remuneration plus five per cent per annum on the amount.
Added to that, the Greens were also ordered to pay a further €62,000 to Atzori for breach of contract plus 5 per cent interest, thus increasing the amount due to over €90,000.
Floriana was ordered to fully pay Atzori within 45 days of the FIFA decision, however the club appealed the decision in front of the Court of Arbitration of Sport and hence the matter was once again placed under judicial consideration.
On February 28, 2025, Floriana’s appeal was also dismissed by the independent judiciary body and confirmed FIFA’s decision in full.
Provided that the club still did not comply with its financial obligations towards Atzori within the required timeframe, on March 17, 2025, FIFA communicated that it has ordered a ban on Floriana FC from registering new players internationally.
The registration ban will remain active until the amount due is paid and for a maximum duration of up to three entire and consecutive registration periods.
FIFA has also requested the Malta Football Association to immediately implement on Floriana FC a ban from registering new players at national level.
The Times of Malta asked Floriana FC for their reaction to the FIFA ruling but no response was sent until the time of going to print.
