Questions over payoff for football union CEO

Steven Martens, CEO of the Royal Belgian Football Union (KBVB) announced his resignation last Monday, after months of controversy around the organisation’s expenditures and budgeting over the course of last year. The announcement of a severance package worth €336,000 has now raised questions about the circumstances of his departure.

Last Friday, Martens lost a vote of confidence held by the KVBV’s board of directors. The organisation ended 2014 with a loss of €206,000, despite increased income. Martens has been criticised for extravagant spending on the World Cup in Brazil last summer and for financial arrangements with a media production house owned by Red Devils’ captain Vincent Kompany.

“After a great deal of thought and discussions with family and friends, I have decided to resign my mandate as CEO of the Belgian Football Union,” Martens said on Monday.

The payment of a sizeable premium, however, suggests that Martens’ departure was not voluntary. According to Frank Hendrickx, professor of labour law at the University of Leuven, there is normally no question of a premium in cases of voluntary resignation.

Martens, formerly a top tennis player and later coach of, among others, Kim Clijsters and Sabine Appelmans, was director of the Lawn Tennis Association from 2007. He came on board the KBVB in 2011.

photo courtesy De Standaard