UEFA president Michel Platini wants FIFA to ban Third Party Ownership

President of the UEFA Michel Platini

UEFA president Michel Platini wants football’s governing body FIFA to ensure that third party ownership of players is banned to ensure that human dignity is not disrespected.

Third party ownership is prevalent in places like South America where so called agents “own rights to a player” and receive a sizeable percentage of the money when the players are bought for huge transfer fees

Blatter said at the 38th UEFA Congress, “The practice of players being owned by secretive agents, businessmen or investment companies out to make a quick buck is not only damaging soccer but is an affront to human dignity and must be halted.”

Platini also praised the English FA after they became the first body to bad third party ownership transfers in 2008.

A very well known example involved Carlos Tevez whose economic rights were partly owned by Media Sports Investments (MSI) and Kia Joorabchian (who was the president of MSI).

Platini said: “If FIFA fails to act, we will address this issue in our own competitions in Europe.

“The UEFA Executive Committee has already adopted a position on this issue in principle, and we will see this through.

“I do not want to be complicit in these practices, and at the moment I have the nasty feeling that I am.”

FIFA president Sepp Blatter was also present at the UEFA Congress.

Blatter also said, “I am thinking, here, of a problem which particularly worries me, that is the third party ownership of players, or TPO as it is sometimes known.

“I have been constantly warning for years that this practice, which is becoming increasingly widespread, is a danger to our sport.

“It threatens the integrity of our competitions, damages football’s image, poses a long-term threat to clubs’ finances and even raises questions about human dignity.”