The Manchester United and England striker was accused of
withholding commission on multi-million pound deals brokered by
sports management firm Proactive, who used to represent
him.
Rooney made no payments after football agent Paul Stretford, a
director and founder of Proactive, left the firm in acrimony in
October 2008, taking with him their star client.
Rooney, 24, who is currently on holiday in Barbados, was signed
by Stretford for Proactive in 2002 as the teenage prodigy became
the hottest property in football.
Rooney, then 17, went from £80-a-week Everton trainee living in
his parent's council house in Croxteth, Liverpool, to household
name soccer star with multi-million sponsorship deals with the
likes of Nike and Coca-Cola.
Proactive had argued that, as such contracts for Rooney and his
wife Coleen were brokered by Stretford while he was still at the
firm, they were still due the 20 per cent commission - amounting to
£4.3 million.
Today Judge Brendan Hegarty QC, who postponed his ruling at
Manchester Mercantile Court until after the World Cup, handed down
his judgment.
The judge said the original contract Rooney signed with
Proactive amounted to a ''restraint of trade'' as it was up to
eight years long when the Football Association recommended a
maximum of two years.