The president of the Spanish league is opposed to the ban on third-party ownership, because the smaller clubs think that this is the only way that they can compete with Real Madrid and Barcelona. What do you think?
TPO is finished, it is forbidden by FIFA. And it is good that [TPO] is forbidden. TPO turns money of the clubs into the money of individuals, so the clubs stay poor and the individuals become rich. TPO takes the money from football. It goes to some offshore company. Then the players can’t decide anything for themselves, because they become a product.
I went on strike when I was young, in support of a player being free at the end of his contract to go where he wants. Now the players belong to companies which make the decisions. To my way of thinking, it’s a scandal. We have to fight them. They can go to court. But the moral high ground is mine. That the player should belong to some ‘fund’ is a scandal.
TPO is a problem for the integrity of competitions. It creates a risk of conflict of interest. Individuals or companies may effectively own or control various players at different clubs and could therefore influence the result of sporting competition. There might also be a perception that sporting results could be susceptible to manipulation. This risk is increased further still if third-party investors have a financial interest not only in the “economic rights” of players but also in other football clubs. Third-parties might take advantage of a club in financial difficulty to take control of its players and influence the transfer policies of clubs.
At the end it damages the reputation of the game. There are moral and ethical concerns about permitting companies established for the expressed purpose of “trading” the “economic rights” in human beings. Last but not least, the lack of transparency creates further risks of money- laundering and other criminal activities.
I understand the problem, because it’s a business. The transfer system is not being used to improve teams, but to take money out of football. That’s why TPO is a scandal
People can say what they want. The moral high ground is not theirs. It could be that they go to court, so then a judge can decide whether TPO should be shown a red card or a yellow card. I am condifent as FIFPro, the Union of the players, agree with me on this issue: they also think TPO should be forbidden once and for all as players are not products.
