Soccer player Jorge Agudelo has won a major, precedent-setting legal battle against his former team, the Once Caldas from Manizales, for salaries and benefits still owed from his carreer with the team, El Tiempo reported Wednesday.
Aguldelo was expelled from the team in 2004 for testing positive for drug use, the day after the cub won the Copa Libertadores, the biggest club tournament in Latin America.
The Labor Division of the Supreme Court has ordered Once Caldas to pay more than $227,000 to Agudelo, for wages that were not paid during his time on the team.
The judges considered Agudelo’s dismissal unjust, and ruled that the nominal salary he was paid did not correspond to the full amount he should have received, as it did not take into account additional benefits that he usually received.
Agudelo said that he should have recieved almost $4,265.00 in monthly salary — including bonuses, prizes, and entertainment expenses — but only $533.00 appeared on the payroll.
According to El Tiempo, the settlement sets a precedent for the working conditions and social security that clubs must provide for their players.
The president of the Colombian Football Association, Carlos Gonzalez Puche, called the high court’s ruling a precedent that will affect ten othes claims currently in progress in various courts around the country.