By Andrew Warshaw
July 14 – An investment company supporting Third Party Ownership says it hopes to learn by July 24 whether it has been successful in challenging FIFA’s recently introduced global ban on the practise.
Doyen Sports, which provides financial assistance to a number of clubs, took its case to a Brussels court on Monday complaining the ban goes against a number of European Union regulations.
The company claims the FIFA ruling came into effect “against the advice and opinion of the vast majority” of those consulted by FIFA itself.
Football’s world governing body has yet to comment on the specific case but critics say those involved in TPO are only in it for the money and both FIFA and UEFA want to stop outside investors partially owning transfer rights.
Nevertheless a number of Spanish and Portuguese clubs still rely on TPO and Nélio Lucas, CEO of Doyen Sports, said after Monday’s court hearing: “Our support to numerous clubs has helped them compete at the top level in world football. Look at Sevilla, who recently won their second consecutive Europa League title. FIFA’s decision could have a tragic effect for clubs and leagues in Europe. I fear that this decision will mean we won’t have Atletico Madrid breaking the duopoly in the Spanish League, or FC Porto regularly challenging for a place in the last stages of the Champions League.”
Doyen insists it has no say in determining how its clubs operate in the transfer market and that it has no hold on players’ economic rights.
“The Third Party Investment model ensures that the club is entirely independent in its decisions on whether to transfer players, and that players themselves have the last say on where they want to play,” said Lucas.
“We have no contractual relation with the players, all we do is provide loans, like banks do, to football clubs. This is why we call our model TPI, and not TPO: In no case do we ever own football players or their economic rights.
“We have always ensured that all our work is done with the utmost transparency: our company is regularly audited by a major international firm, and our accounts are delivered to the competent authorities. We are based in the European Union, not an obscure offshore territory. This is why we have decided to take this matter before the law.”
Doyen Sports is being represented by, among others, Jean Louis Dupont, the lawyer who successfully defended journeyman footballer Jean-Marc Bosman in the mid-1990s which led to the so-called Bosman ruling that changed the face of the transfer system.
“Hopefully, the courts will clearly see the merits of our arguments,” said Dupont who believes the FIFA ban should be overturned. “It is a case of FIFA trying to impose its will and regulations, where these regulations clearly contradict the sovereign law of the European Union. We are sure that it is completely disproportionate and illegal to prohibit clubs from accessing a source of finance in what is ultimately an economic activity.”
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