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Uefa Applies Pressure on Fifa to Ban Third-party Ownership of Players |
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Football - 07 Dec 2012 - Uefa, European soccer’s governing body, is to seek a worldwide ban on third-party ownership of players, claiming that the controversial practice is a threat to the integrity of its competitions.
Uefa has long had concerns about the practice and is calling on Fifa, the sport’s international governing body, to take steps to ban the practice, warning that it will take action itself if this is not forthcoming.
Speaking after yesterday’s Uefa executive committee meeting in Lausanne, the federation’s secretary general Gianni Infantino said: “We all know that third-party ownership of players bears many threats and there are many issues linked with the integrity of the competition and it is really time to regulate that and to have a stance on that.”
Although banned in several countries, including England and France, third-party ownership is commonplace in various parts of the world, notably Brazil, where companies invest in players and receive a share of the proceeds from transfers.
In a statement, Uefa said: “The committee decided that the ownership of football players by third parties should be prohibited as a matter of principle. Consequently, world football’s governing body Fifa will be requested to issue relevant worldwide regulations prohibiting third-party ownership of players.
“Uefa, through its Professional Football Strategy Council (PFSC), would also be ready to implement a regulatory framework to ban third-party ownership arrangements in Uefa competitions, should Fifa not take the appropriate steps. In that case, a transitional period of three to four seasons would apply.”
The issue came to prominence in England in 2007 when Premier League club West Ham United was fined £5.5 million ($8.8 million), but avoided a points penalty, for failing to disclose third-party influence in the contracts of Argentinian players Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano when they joined from Corinthians of Brazil.
Meanwhile, England has been named as the host of the 2013 European Women’s Under-17 Championship.
The event will take place from November 26 to December 8, after qualifying rounds in the summer and autumn of next year.
Astana in Kazakhstan and Vienna in Austria have been chosen to stage the Uefa Ordinary Congresses in 2014 and 2015 respectively. The 2013 event will be held in London on May 24, the day before the final of the Uefa Champions League, which will take place at the city’s Wembley Stadium.
There were reports this week that the 2015 and 2016 Champions League finals will be played in Berlin and Milan respectively, although no decision on the hosts will be made until March of next year. Lisbon has already been awarded the 2014 final.
Sportcal
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