South America to feel fallout from FIFA third party owner ban

FIFA moves to ban Third Party Ownership in football will badly hit clubs in Brazil and Argentina, the major traders in global talent such as Neymar and Colombian star Radamel Falcao, experts say.
About 90 percent of players in Brazil's top division are linked to Third Party Ownership (TPO) arrangements where rights to a player are controlled by investment funds and other opaque companies that buy up rising stars, according to a KPMG consultancy study.
Brazil accounted for more than 5,500 international transfers between 2011 and July this year, making it the world football commodities leader. Argentina was second with more than 2,600 players moving across borders.
But the two countries have some of the world's most indebted clubs, which is why they are most prone to TPO. Brazilian and Argentinian clubs have told FIFA they could not survive without Third Party cash.
"There has never been so much money in Brazilian football, but the clubs are very indebted," said Eduardo Carlezzo, a Sao Paulo lawyer specialising in sport. "This economic situation means the clubs need investors to recruit."
When Neymar moved from Brazilian club Santos to Barcelona in 2013, or Falcao went from River Plate in Argentina to FC Porto in 2009, the European clubs had to haggle with clubs and investors.
Many outside investors treat players "under a slave regime because they say that as they have the player's economic rights they can decide his future," said Carlos Soto, president of the Chilean professional footballers union.
- Football 'Vultures' -
Jackson Ibarguen was a former under-20 player for Colombia when he was ordered to play in Bosnia from 2008 to 2013. Ibarguen said he was not paid a full wage and was stopped from moving away by his TPO owner.
FIFA's executive committee voted in September to ban TPO deals though world body president Sepp Blatter said there would be a transitional period before it is eliminated.
The transition will last up to four years, according to FIFA officials, and a working party will recommend the steps to be taken by December. FIFA said this week that a final solution should be announced at the world body's congress in May.
FIFA has had to act under pressure from Europe's governing body, UEFA, which had indicated that TPO players could be banned from the Champions League. The English, French and Polish leagues have already banned such deals.
Third party ownership "threatens the integrity of our competitions,” according to UEFA president Michel Platini.
"It damages football’s image, poses a long-term threat to clubs’ finances, and even raises questions about human dignity," he added.
"FIFA's announcement aims to eliminate the vultures from around football," said Paraguayan expert Alberto Candia, who has been involved in international transfers.
But Carlezzo said that in the short term "the impact will be strong and negative for Brazilian clubs." But in the medium term they will get back 100 percent ownership of rights to players.
The ban will force a major reform of ownership in Argentina, where investigators are looking into possible tax evasion in the past transfers of 444 players, including Sergio "Kun" Agüero, now at Manchester City, and Javier Mascherano, who is currently with Barcelona.
While Argentinian clubs will no longer be able to buy a player with investment groups, the TPO agents will still be able to "contribute" without being a legal owner, said Roberto Tesone, a player representative and former director at Argentinos Juniors, the club that produced Diego Maradona and Fernando Redondo.
The international players' union, FIFPro, is demanding that FIFA make sure clubs and financiers do not divert the new regulations.
"We know the ban is in the overall economic interests of football," said FIFPro secretary general Theo van Seggelen, whose group is on the FIFA working party.
"We are acting fast to ensure the transitional period and the terms of contracts signed before or during this period do not become loopholes that substantially delay or defeat the TPO ban," he added.
Source: AFP