The case involves a legal dispute between the Association Sportive Raed Chabab de Kouba (RCK) and the Algerian Football Federation (FAF), which was brought before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The conflict arose during the 2007-2008 Algerian second-division football season when RCK was accused of fielding a player, Samir Khelidi, under a false identity. The USM El Harrash club alleged that Samir Khelidi was actually his brother, Rabah Khelidi, and filed a complaint. The FAF's disciplinary commission ruled against RCK, imposing penalties including a forfeit of the match, a six-point deduction, and suspensions for the player and club officials. These sanctions relegated RCK to fifth place, denying them promotion to the first division, which they would have secured otherwise.
RCK appealed the decision through internal FAF channels, but the appeals commission upheld the ruling. The case was then brought before the Algerian Tribunal for the Resolution of Sports Disputes (TARLS), which declared itself incompetent to rule on the matter, citing the unprecedented nature of the identity fraud issue. The TARLS referred the case back to the FAF president, who upheld the original decision. RCK subsequently appealed to the CAS, arguing that the internal appeals process had been exhausted without a fair resolution.
The CAS examined whether the player's actions constituted identity concealment, punishable under FAF disciplinary rules, or identity fraud, a separate offense. The CAS found that since the player had consistently used the identity listed on official documents and the FAF had not raised doubts about his identity, his actions amounted to identity fraud rather than concealment. As such, the sanctions against RCK were deemed unjustified, as identity fraud should have been penalized against the player individually, not the club.
The CAS also criticized the FAF's internal procedures, noting that RCK had been subjected to an unreasonable back-and-forth between judicial bodies without a substantive resolution. The tribunal emphasized that national federations must provide clubs with access to an independent judicial body and cannot force them into endless procedural loops. Ultimately, the CAS ruled in favor of RCK, annulling the FAF's sanctions and highlighting procedural flaws in the handling of the case.
The CAS granted RCK provisional measures, allowing them to compete in the first division while the case was pending. The final decision restored the points deducted from RCK and adjusted the 2007-2008 league standings accordingly. The CAS affirmed its jurisdiction and concluded that RCK did not violate Article 97-B of the FAF's disciplinary code, as there was no evidence the club was aware of the false identity or could have prevented it. The ruling underscored the importance of fair and efficient dispute resolution mechanisms in sports governance, ensuring that clubs are not unfairly penalized for administrative errors beyond their control. The case was resolved with the annulment of the TARLS decision and the reinstatement of RCK's rightful position in the league standings.