By Andrew Warshaw at Soccerex in Manchester
September 8 – Spanish league boss Javier Tebas has once again defended the use of Third Party Ownership, this time blasting FIFA and UEFA for dictating to clubs how they should behave and lambasting the English Premier League for buying up all the best players.
Last week, in a no-holds barred debate at the FITS Forum in Geneva, Tebas took on Alasdair Bell, director of legal affairs at UEFA, over the rights and wrongs of TPO and waded into the argument again at the Soccerex Forum in Manchester by denouncing the global ban on the practise and insisting Spanish clubs should be left to their own devices.
TPO is considered de rigueur in South America and parts of Europe such as Spain and Portugal and Tebas says the authorities are simply not adopting a business mentality.
“A company needs to grow and investment funds are good because they benefit the smaller and medium-sized clubs,” he told delegates.
“If these clubs cannot get financing and share the risk with investors when they buy players, all the talent will end up in the English Premier League, with its massive tv rights, rather than in La Liga. How do we make up this difference? With investors so that the smaller clubs can also buy talent.”
Typically forthright, Tebas urged FIFA and UEFA to stop adopting a “black or white” attitude towards TPO and, if they feel so strongly about it, put in some kind of regulation in terms of quotas or age limits.
“I don’t see a risk with TPO. If people at UEFA and FIFA think there is a risk, regulate the system in terms of maybe how many players can be financed by investment funds, or an age limit. Don’t forbid it.
“FIFA and UEFA were born to organise international and European tournaments and set out rules. But for the last few years they’ve started to intervene in the economic decisions made by clubs. That’s within our competance, not theirs. We need to exercise our rights. I will be the one to make sure my league is economically sane.
“Let UEFA do the same for the Champions League but not intervene in the management of leagues. We’ve seen what control there is in FIFA. Zero. Why should TPO be forbidden in Spain just because FIFA says so from Switzerland. They are damaging our competition and Portugal agrees with us. Clubs like Porto and Atletico Madrid have only been able to play in the Champions’ League because they’ve had investors. Without this, they would not have players of a certain level. Let UEFA look after their own competitions but not ours.”
Somewhat undiplomatically given which country he was speaking in, Tebas suggested the Premier League should be the ones regulated.
“Which league has been most favoured by the prohibition of TPO? The Premier League. UEFA allows them to take all the tv rights yet doesn’t let the rest of Europe invest. Maybe UEFA should regulate to make sure one league is not so powerful.”
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