Barcelona face setback as lawsuit against Zenit over €490,000 non-payment dismissed

Malcom was one of Barcelona’s most bizarre transfers in recent history as the Brazilian’s story at the club simply did not add up for multiple reasons.

Initially signed from Bordeaux in July 2018, the player spent a year in Barcelona where he impressed in his limited minutes.

Despite making a decent start to life in Catalonia, he was shipped off to Zenit St. Petersburg a year later, presumably for financial reasons in a transfer worth €40 million.

After four years at the Russian club, the Brazilian made the move to Al Hilal in Saudi Arabia in 2023 but one aspect of his contract with Zenit took Barcelona and the Russian club to court.

A UCL controversy

Malcom’s contract with Zenit St. Petersburg included a clause by which the Russian club owed Barcelona a fixed sum every time they qualified for the UEFA Champions League with Malcom playing at least half of the games in the Russian league.

Despite qualifying for the competition in 2022/23, however, they were not allowed to participate in the event owing to the war between Russia and Ukraine and thus claimed that they were exempt from paying Barcelona any sum.

As a result, Barça took the Russian giants to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) over the non-payment of the bonus.

Now, as revealed by SPORT, the CAS has agreed with Zenit St. Petersburg and dismissed the lawsuit filed by Barcelona over the non-payment of the contractual clause.

The Russians, thus, are now exempt from paying Barcelona €490,000 as stipulated and the official judgement has even been published.

Needless to say, this is a blow to the Catalans’ finances considering that the club is in dire need of funds.

Interestingly, however, Zenit still owe Barcelona €1.125 million for Malcom’s signing despite having sold the player.