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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Mark Walker

SPFL and SFA on alert as seething Dutch clubs earn hefty compensation to avoid courtroom battle

The Dutch football association have paid out hefty compensation to clubs in return for not taking their cases to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

It comes in the same week that Hearts and Partick Thistle launched legal battles against the SPFL's decision to end the season early and relegate clubs.

In Holland, they decided against promotion and relegation and that left Cambuur raging.

The SFA are considering punishing Hearts and Thistle for taking the league to court and along with the SFA, will be watching developments in Holland closely.

Netherlands are one of only four countries - along with Scotland, France and Belgium to call time on their season - and FC Utrecht, Cambuur, De Graafschap, NAC Breda and FC Volendam all agreed jointly to halt legal proceedings in return for hefty compensation from the KNVB.

Utrecht were outraged the season was ended after they had reached the Dutch Cup Final and missed out on a European spot. They were also sitting in sixth place in the league and had even threatened to take their case to the Swiss-based highest sporting court.

(SNS Group)

They were awarded £500,000 from the KNVB, but director Thijs van Es pointed out: "The Netherlands and Scotland are the only countries where the Cup Finals won't be played this season.

"We offered to play the Cup Final in Germany or even in the Dutch colony of Bonaire, but the KNVB have refused to entertain this. It's an incredibly bitter pill to swallow and the compensation means little. We have been robbed.

"But we cannot go any further with our legal proceedings."

Cambuur were top of the Dutch second tier and received £350,000. Their chief executive, Ard de Graaf, said: "We could have continued to fight, but we have no guarantee of winning and we have decided for the good of Dutch football to accept the settlement."

The other clubs who were compensated included De Graafschap, who were awarded £275,000 after being in second place in the second tier and NAC Breda and FC Volendam, who both received £40,000 after being in the play-off spots.

KNVB director Eric Gudde said: "We are pleased this is finally over. It's worth reiterating that we firmly believe we handled this correctly, having taken guidance from UEFA."

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