By Andrew Warshaw
July 27 – UEFA and FIFA are celebrating a landmark victory in their joint fight to outlaw Third Party Ownership (TPO) after a Brussels court threw out a legal case against them launched to try and overturn the worldwide ban on the practise.
Doyen Sports, which says it provides financial assistance to a number of clubs, took its case to court complaining the ban goes against a number of European Union regulations.
The company claims the FIFA ban on TPO came into effect “against the advice and opinion of the vast majority” of those consulted by FIFA itself. 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.
But both FIFA and UEFA say the practise is detrimental to the health of the game – a view supported by the Brussels Court of First Instance which concluded that TPO practices were those of investment funds whose shareholders are unknown; and that TPO investors make agreements with different clubs in direct competition with each other.
This, the court ruled in a hard-hitting verdict, undermines contractual stability and as a result there was no evidence the ban on TPO would be in breach of EU competition and free movement rules.
Welcoming Friday’s verdict, UEFA’s head of legal affairs Alasdair Bell launched a scathing attack on the pro-TPO lobby, telling Insideworldfootball: “The activities of these people are more akin to loan sharking than any form of investment.”
“They are not helping clubs at all. This judgement roundly condemns TPO and has concerns about integrity of competition and the undermining of contractual stabilility. In other words all the arguments we’ve been making for years. This is the first time there has been a proper judicial appreciation of TPO. The conclusions reached are that this is a very opaque and negative practice.
“It’s nonsense to suggest TPO allows smaller clubs to be competitive. If anyone ever saw one of these so-called TPO investment arrangements, what you’d see are all kinds of penalties written into deals.”
In a statement, FIFA also welcomed the rejection of the application for a temporary injunction to suspend the worldwide TPO ban that had been submitted by Doyen Sports Investments and Belgian second-division club Seraing United.
“FIFA takes this opportunity to reiterate its confidence in the legality of the ban on TPO, which is indispensable for preserving clubs’ and players’ independence and for ensuring the integrity of matches and competitions,” it said.
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