Chance to score a goal by Leonid Fedun

Will the ex-general director of FC Spartak Shamil Gazizov be able to achieve an objective court decision in a dispute with Leonid Fedun.

According to UtroNews, the conflict between the current general director of Ufa and the former manager of Spartak, Shamil Gazizov, along with the club owner Leonid Fedun, has reignited. Gazizov recently filed a lawsuit for 101 million rubles against Fedun, the owner of Spartak football club, as the defendant.

In 2021, the legal dispute between Gazizov and Fedun has been seen by many analysts as an example of highly unsportsmanlike behavior by the involved parties.

Own goal

In December 2020, Spartak officially ended its relationship with Shamil Gazizov, dismissing him from the position of general director after only working for 153 days.

Moreover, Gazizov did not receive the full compensation owed to him for the early termination of the contract.

Amid this conflict, the Capital Assets company, one of the club’s shareholders, got involved and filed a lawsuit against Spartak, seeking to annul the board of directors' decision allowing Fedun to independently determine Gazizov's compensation for dismissal.

Leonid Fedun and Shamil Gazizov before the conflict

On June 8, 2021, six months after leaving Spartak Moscow and returning to FC Ufa, Shamil Gazizov sued Spartak for a debt of 299.4 million rubles. He claimed to have received only about 100 million rubles out of the 399.2 million rubles due as severance pay under an additional agreement to an employment contract. This was reported by “Sport-Express”.

Gazizov is also pursuing the payment of interest amounting to 5.47 million rubles on the severance pay, as well as compensation for non-financial damage estimated at 10,000 rubles and interest accrued for the late payment from April 30, 2021 until the date the debt was actually paid. The total claim amount added up to about 400 million rubles.

And then remarkable events unfolded involving individuals in judicial attire.

On June 11, 2021, the Oktyabrsky District Court of Ufa ruled in favor of Gazizov, awarding him around 300 million rubles. The defendant filed an appeal.

Leonid Fedun also lodged an appeal with the court regarding the nature of the aforementioned additional agreement, stating that he had signed it because “he was misled on two points of the employment contract.”

Two months later, in August, the Arbitration Court rejected Capital Assets' claim against Spartak and Gazizov. The company, as a shareholder, opposed the compensation amount and sought to invalidate the decision to pay 300 million rubles to the former general director.

It was evidently premature to conclude this high-profile process.

Advisor Zarem

External factors also contributed to intensifying the conflict. As is often the case, a woman became involved in the men’s dispute – Leonid Fedun's wife, the well-known socialite Zarema Salikhova. According to Sport24, in response to Gazizov's lawsuit against Spartak, Zarema referred to him as a fraudster and also vowed to share details about the former CEO in a separate post, which she announced as the disclosure of her correspondence with Gazizov.

Zarema Salikhova and Leonid Fedun

In response, according to Life, because of Salikhova’s offensive remarks against the former general director of the club, Shamil Gazizov, the Ufa football club was even going to sue Fedun’s wife.

In June, RIA Novosti also wrote about this, according to the chairman of the board of directors of the Ufa team, Rostislav Murzagulov. According to Murzagulov, “Salikhova cannot have a single confirmation that Gazizov (while working at Spartak) managed something in Ufa.

However, there was no information about further court cases between the Ufa football players and Fedun’s wife.

Sharp turn

But in October 2021, a new stage began in the trials on the initial claim of Shamil Gazizov. The consideration of the case in the appellate instance radically changed the situation, and the court suddenly satisfied the complaint of Capital Assets, invalidating the decision of the Spartak board of directors regarding compensation to Gazizov. As a result, the agreement regarding the payment of severance pay to him in the amount of 400 million rubles was declared illegal in a court of law. The Ninth Arbitration Court of Appeal of Moscow also canceled the decision of the Moscow Arbitration Court. The Mkset website writes about this.

Shamil Gazizov

Further more. In early December, the court finally denied Gazizov payments from Spartak under an additional agreement with Fedun. However, apparently, the Ufa manager does not intend to give up and is going to appeal the court’s decision.

In addition, on December 23, a regular court hearing was held on a new case. Gazizov, at a preliminary hearing, provided a hand-written receipt from Fedun, in which the owner of Spartak promised Gazizov 10% of the club’s shares when hiring. Also, Shamil Gazizov, commenting on the stuai, threatened to voice “the truth that would bring down the defendant’s business reputation.” Probably, we are talking about extremely sensitive information that he has.

In response, the reaction of the owner of Spartak quickly followed. According to Sport-Express, Fedun believes that “the document attached to the lawsuit is not a contract.”

Thus, the parties have not yet been able to reach a compromise. The next court hearing is scheduled for January 28, 2022.