Brussels Court Of Appeal Rules Out Doyen Appeal; Third-Party Ownership Remains Illegal

The Brussels Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal by Doyen Sports Investments, the Belgian second-division club Seraing United and the Spanish Football League (LFP) against FIFA, UEFA, the Belgian FA and FIFPro that "sought a temporary injunction to suspend the worldwide ban on third-party ownership," according to INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL. The decision "upheld the position of the Brussels first-instance tribunal which had previously ruled there was no evidence to prove the ban contravened EU law." The Court of Appeal emphasized the "opacity" of TPO, the absence of control by governing bodies, the "significance of this worldwide phenomenon and of the amounts of money involved, as well as the environment which is prone to corruption and other fraudulent practices." For these reasons, it held that a "prima facie finding that the ban on TPO infringes EU competition law was important to make" (INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL, 3/18).