Henri Bedimo has lost his lawsuit against Olympique de Marseille, his former club. The ruling was made by the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal, according to reports by L’Équipe on Monday.
In June 2018, the former Marseille defender was fired by his club for having set up a football academy in Cameroon in connection with Montpellier Hérault SC (MHSC), a rival football team.
On May 26, the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal sided with Marseille:
“The promotion of the football academy (sic) on various media and on social networks, academy inaugurated [… ] in partnership with the MHSC, a competing club, and without the Olympique de Marseille being informed, certainly constitutes a breach of the obligation of loyalty to his employer and a breach of his contractual obligations,” the court ruled.
Bedimo however, feels that the decision is unfair as he did what he needed to do at the time, with a willing partner:
“There was no long reflection when it was necessary to choose the partner. With my adviser, we immediately had the same idea to propose this to the MHSC”, declared the player during an interview on the MHSC site, in June 2018.
Olympique de Marseille, however, decided to dismiss him for serious misconduct. The left-back, challenged the fairness of his dismissal arguing that Marseille “reproached him for the creation and development of his association for humanitarian purposes in Cameroon created in 2007, which constitutes an attack on his freedom of association”.
In total, the Cameroonian demanded 5.3 million euros in damages but this ruling by the court means he will be having nothing.
Amina Hilda contributed to this report.
