Red Star and Partizan take battle to FIBA arbitration

Serbian rivals Red Star Belgrade and Partizan Belgrade have been in a heated verbal fight all summer and now it continues into the court rooms. The fight is about talented youngster Nenad Miljenović and a transfer fee that Red Star claims from Partizan.

Nenad Miljenović originally played for FMP but when he turned 18, he refused to sign a four year deal with that club. Afterwards, FMP merged with Red Star and doesn’t exist as a club any longer. At the same time Miljenović signed a four year deal with Partizan that immediately sent him on loan to Megavizura.

Before FMP merged with Red Star, Partizan had promised FMP a € 150.000 transfer fee of which € 75.000 was paid immediately, and the other € 75.000 is still due. Partizan feels that they don’t have to pay this money since FMP doesn’t exist anymore. It also seems like they have gotten some doubts about the potential of Miljenović because they wouldn’t give him a roster spot for this season either and he then moved to Radnicki Kragujevac.

Red Star is the legal successor of FMP and feels that it is entitled to the remaining € 75.000. Red Star will first consult FIBA and then afterwards possibly start an arbitration case against Partizan. That would be pretty remarkable; a dispute involving two Serbian teams and a Serbian player that is not resolved by Serbian law, but by FIBA arbitration.