Verdict in ADO Den Haag case against Chinese owner scheduled for January 5

In absence of the defendants the court in The Hague on Wednesday announced to set the ruling date for the case of Dutch soccer club ADO Den Haag against its Chinese owner United Vansen (UVS) on January 5, 2017.

The defendants and their lawyers were not present in the courtroom. Judge Gerard van Ham stated he had received the summons by ADO and that the defending party has not appeared in court. The judge therefore asked if ADO wanted to comment on the summons and on the way the plaintiffs had notified the lawsuit to UVS, a Chinese sports marketing company owned by Wang Hui.

According to the club the defendants were called to appear in court through post, mail and fax. After a session of five minutes, the judge declared that the verdict is scheduled for January 5.

If a defendant does not appear in Dutch court for civil proceedings the judge may pronounce a default judgment, a judgment in the absence of the defendant. This may imply that the claim of the plaintiff is fully allocated. However, the defendants may hope for procedural errors by the plaintiff. It is the responsibility of the plaintiff to summon the defendants to appear before the court.

"The court will now consider whether a default judgment in absence of the defendant may be issued in this case," spokesman Arnoud Boer of the Court of The Hague told Xinhua. "This could be the case when the ADO summons have been transferred correctly. That is the responsibility of the plaintiff. The court only establishes a date for the court session."

"The question whether the summons were transmitted in a proper way is relevant, but I cannot answer that question now," the spokesman continued. "That is one of the things to be evaluated by the judge. It is complicated, with an extra dimension, that the defendant comes from another country. The judge has to examine and test all this."

ADO demands that the Chinese owner pays the club 2.3 million euros of a total of 3.7 million which was according to ADO agreed in August 2015, to be paid in three installments. None of these deadlines were met according to ADO and it lasted until April 2016 that ADO claims to have received 1.9 million euros. Therefore, the club now demands, including interest and fines for the long wait, a total of 2.3 million euros.

On December 19 the Enterprise Division of the Amsterdam Court already ruled that UVS boss Wang Hui should be suspended from his function as chairman of supervisory board of ADO and that all shares owned by UVS will, for now, be taken over by a third party. With the verdict the Enterprise Division of the Amsterdam Court mostly acknowledged the complaints made by ADO.

The lawyer of UVS complained that the Chinese owner had to pay the club money but was not allowed to make decisions, and that they did not know where a big part of the money had gone. According to the Chinese company ADO had continued to ignore agreements. In a statement before the court session of last week, UVS said that it had not played any role in the daily business and the club's management. UVS therefore demanded more control of the club.

UVS found that the management had blocked potential lucrative deals proposed by UVS related to Chinese players, coaches, sponsors and the Chinese market for no apparent reason. The Chinese owner added that due to lack of initiative and vision, the management of ADO Den Haag failed to achieve some business goals and ADO lost a lot of money as a result.

ADO are currently having financial problems, according to the club because the promised money from China did not arrive. The Dutch football association KNVB had placed ADO in financial Category 1, which means that the club is under surveillance. If the club does not submit a balanced budget before February 1, 2017, the future of the club might be at risk. Enditem