Jupiler Pro League
Football club Royal Antwerp FC has been ordered by the labor court to pay severance compensation of half a million euros to ex-coach Brian Priske. WhatsApp messages show that Priske was indeed fired by Antwerp.
“Royal Antwerp FC has today decided to no longer continue with Brian Priske (45) as head coach,” ‘The Great Old’ reported on its website on Monday, May 23, 2022. The Dane’s dismissal had been in the air for some time and two days earlier it had already been leaked that Antwerp was already in talks with Mark van Bommel. The Dutchman who would lead Antwerp to the national title, cup and Super Cup a year later.
Because Priske still had a contract until May 31, 2023, he demanded severance compensation of 500,000 euros based on an article from his employment contract. Antwerp turned the tables and claimed that Priske himself had resigned to join Sparta Prague. The club in turn demanded 600,000 euros from Priske. That complaint was declared inadmissible by the football tribunal in Zurich.
In the meantime, Priske had initiated proceedings at the labor court in Antwerp, which ruled in his favor in March 2023. However, Antwerp appealed against that verdict. The club asked the labor court to declare Priske’s claim unfounded and to oblige the trainer to repay the salary he received for the period from May 23, 2022 to May 31, 2022.
“Good luck with your last match”
But according to the labor court, it is clear that the dismissal came at the initiative of Antwerp and that the Danish trainer did not resign himself. This is evident from previous communication on the club website and also from WhatsApp messages from general manager Sven Jacques and technical director Marc Overmars to Priske. In the messages added to the file by Priske, everyone remains polite and Priske’s dismissal is not denied. For example, Overmars sends on May 22, 2022: “Good luck in your last match for Antwerp.” When Priske asks Jacques when they want to communicate, the latter answers: “I will call you tomorrow about communication, we will send you the papers.”
“It is clear that authorized persons in an interview on May 19, 2022 unequivocally expressed their wish to terminate the agreement on May 22, 2022 after the match against Union (won by Antwerp 0-1, ed.),” the court said. “The fact that Priske himself would have pushed for a dismissal to work at Sparta Prague has not been sufficiently demonstrated,” the court added.
In an elaborately reasoned judgment, the labor court decides that Antwerp must indeed pay Priske half a million euros, the legal costs are also for the reigning national champion. Priske, in turn, must be reimbursed by the court for his net salary plus withholding tax for the period from May 23 to May 31, 14,902.78 euros. The Dane did not want to respond to the ruling on Monday. In Antwerp it cannot yet be said whether there will be a Cassation appeal. “We are still considering what we will do with the ruling,” says spokesperson Erwin Van den Sande.
The ruling means a new financial blow for Antwerp. Last week, the club emerged in a report from the KBVB – as expected – as the most loss-making club in the Jupiler Pro League of the past football season. Last year, Stock Number 1 went into the red by 46 million euros. Those losses have already been adjusted by chairman Paul Gheysens. A capital injection of 48.6 million euros was recently published in the Staatsblad. “I went as far as I was allowed,” Gheysens responded in De Tijd.
