Football teams around the world prepare for the winter transfer window, according to Sam Borden of the N.Y. TIMES. And everyone involved "does so with a new era looming: Third-party ownership, which for years drove the market by allowing outside investors to buy pieces of a player’s future to profit from his eventual sale, will soon be banned."
At its core, third-party ownership "is simple." An investor "gives money to a club in exchange for a share of a player’s future transfer fees." Many clubs, particularly in South America and Eastern Europe, "build their rosters around T.P.O." The system "has been described as a combination of stock trading and gambling, but its most fervent supporters unapologetically call it the backbone of global soccer." However, on Dec. 1, FIFA announced a worldwide ban on third-party ownership, effective May 1. Brazilian sports lawyer Marcos Motta "is one of about 10 members of a FIFA working group that has been examining and debating T.P.O." He said that he was "stunned by the announcement" because his group "was set to meet, at FIFA’s request, in late January." The debate over TPO "often divides regionally." Save for a few exceptions like Portugal (which is saturated with investor-backed players), "most western European leagues and associations are in favor of outlawing T.P.O." In South America, though, and particularly in Brazil, "supporters of the T.P.O. system say it has been critical to the professional game’s survival." The effect of the coming ban "is not yet clear," though Motta said "it was apparent that FIFA’s directive was designed to target larger players in the T.P.O. game, like Jorge Mendes, a powerful agent who has reportedly owned significant shares in his players, or Doyen Sports, a Malta-based fund that was recently at the heart of a much-publicized transfer controversy involving the Argentine defender Marcos Rojo" (N.Y. TIMES, 1/1).
