LFP President Tebas Says League Will Challenge FIFA's Ban On Alternative Financing

Spanish Football League (LFP) President Javier Tebas said that the Spanish league "will challenge FIFA’s ban on clubs selling the transfer rights of contracted players to investors," according to Alex Duff of BLOOMBERG. Tebas "referred to European Union rules on the free movement of capital" in an email  "without offering more details." A FIFA official said that "it had no comment on the matter." In '08, the Premier League "banned the practice after West Ham ceded control of striker Carlos Tevez to investment companies domiciled in the British Virgin Islands." Madrid-based law firm Garrigues Managing Dir Felix Plaza said that the wording of the prohibition "appears to stop clubs securing credit from banks in exchange for player transfer fees owed to them, which is common practice in Spain and other European countries." Plaza: "It’s restrictive and goes against the free movement of capital. FIFA has gone past what is reasonable and it’s going to create problems" (BLOOMBERG, 1/17).