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FIFA to ban third-party ownership of players
Journalists are reflected in a logo at the FIFA headquarters after a meeting of the executive committee in Zurich, October 4, 2013. PHOTO BY REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann
By Brian Homewood
27/09/2014
ZURICH (Reuters) - Soccer's governing body FIFA has agreed to ban the third-party ownership of players, its president Sepp Blatter said on Friday, seven years after first promising to outlaw the practice.
Blatter said a working group would be set up to implement the ban which would come into effect following "a transitional period".
"We took a firm decision that TPO should be banned but it cannot be banned immediately there will be a transitional period," Blatter told a news conference following a meeting of the executive committee.
His announcement followed pressure from European soccer's governing body UEFA, which had said it would ban it unilaterally if FIFA did not act.
Third-party ownership is when the transfer rights of players are wholly or partially owned by the footballer himself or a company, instead of just the player's club.
It is widespread in Brazil and Argentina, and is also present in some European countries such as Portugal, but banned in others including England, France and Poland.
FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke said the working group would decide how long the transitional period would be and would submit a proposal to the next executive committee meeting in December.
"The ban cannot be implemented immediately and we are discussing the number of transfer windows we have to wait for this ban (to come into affect).
"It's a matter of whether we are talking about six transfer windows, meaning three years, or eight, meaning four years, this is what we will be discussing in this working group," he said.
Earlier this month, Sporting Lisbon president Bruno de Carvalho launched an outspoken attack on investor funds who buy players' economic rights, describing them as a “menace” and a “monster” that undermine clubs’ finances and football’s integrity.
Blatter previously said in October 2007 that the practice would be banned but FIFA failed to follow up on the promise.
UEFA president Michel Platini has been one of the most outspoken critics of TPO.
"I have been constantly warning for years that this practice, which is becoming increasingly widespread, is a danger to our sport," he said in March.
"It threatens the integrity of our competitions, damages football's image, poses a long-term threat to clubs' finances and even raises questions about human dignity.
"Increasingly, players are owned by opaque companies based in tax havens and controlled by some unknown agent or investment fund."
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