Chelsea are attempting to have football agent Saif Rubie’s legal claim against the club resolved outside of court.
Rubie stated at the start of September he was filing a lawsuit against the Premier League club and its former director Marina Granovskaia.
The London-born agent believes he is owed money from the transfer that took Kurt Zouma from Chelsea to West Ham United in August, 2021.
Chelsea are instead attempting to get the case taken to arbitration, whereby the dispute would be resolved by a neutral third party outside of court.
The club believe the Football Association’s (FA) football agent regulations determine that such a case should be taken to arbitration.
The FA’s agent regulations state: “Disputes arising out of, or in connection with, a Representation Agreement without an international dimension shall be exclusively determined between the parties under Rule K (Arbitration) of the Rules.”
The FA’s agent regulations are binding for all “participants”. However, Rubie’s side believes Rule K does not apply because Granovskaia is no longer in football and so is not a “participant”.
Granovskaia departed Chelsea in June 2022, having worked at the club since 2003.
Rubie still believes the case should be heard in court, with his spokesperson stating: “Chelsea and Ms Granovskaia have a clear interest in preventing Mr Rubie’s claim from being heard in open court given current investigations into the club and its activities under its previous ownership.”
Rubie was found not guilty on the charge of malicious communications towards Granovskaia in April 2024 following a trial at Southwark Crown Court. The charge related to an email sent by Rubie to Granovskaia in May 2022, where the agent demanded a commission from the sale of Zouma to West Ham the previous summer.
During April’s trial, the court heard Rubie believed he acted as an intermediary on Chelsea’s behalf during the Zouma deal — and as such was due a commission on any transfer fee received above €30million (£25.6m, $32.2m). Both parties disputed the exact sum, while Granovskaia argued that Rubie never represented Chelsea, and instead sought to involve himself in the deal.
Rubie had insisted he was owed a £300,000 commission from the transfer, with the deal to bring France international Zouma to West Ham worth €33.9m.
Granovskaia’s side declined to comment when approached by The Athletic.
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Marina Granovskaia, Saif Rubie and a trial revealing ‘the difficult and ugly side of football’
(Jordan Pettitt/PA Images via Getty Images)
