TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - UEFA is poised to introduce new rules to tackle urgently what it sees as the scourge of third-party ownership of players in Europe as early as next season. Transgressors ultimately face the possibility of transfer bans or having players excluded from the Champions League, as reported by The Guardian.
A Guardian investigation on Monday revealed that Jorge Mendes, regarded as the most powerful football agent in Europe, is serially involved in third-party ownership and UEFA, increasingly frustrated by FIFA’s inaction on the issue despite repeated vows to tackle the problem, is now drawing up new rules that could be introduced for its next three-year cycle of competition from 2015 to 2016.
As with the introduction of its financial fair play, there would be a transition period to allow clubs to comply with the new rules but the aim would be to clamp down on third-party ownership among clubs competing in the Champions League or Europa League.
A study for KPMG last year put the overall value of players owned under TPO schemes, where third parties invest in up to 50 percent of a player or loan the equivalent value, at 1.1bn Euros.
In Portugal, Spain and Eastern Europe where the practice has proliferated since it was imported from South America in the last decade, large numbers of players are now owned in part by third parties.
THE GUARDIAN | OG | DC
