The Rise and Fall of Third Party Ownership in Football

This article analyses the rise, prohibition and legal uncertainty surrounding Third Party Ownership in football. It explains how TPO originally developed as a financing mechanism allowing clubs to receive immediate investment in exchange for a share of a player’s future transfer fee, particularly benefiting financially weaker clubs and markets such as South America, Portugal, Spain and Italy. The article then examines FIFA’s regulatory response, moving from the control of third-party influence under Article 18bis of the RSTP to the outright ban on third-party ownership under Article 18ter.

Particular attention is given to the Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano case at West Ham and the landmark Seraing dispute, where FIFA’s TPO ban was tested before CAS, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court and later within the EU judicial context. The central conclusion is that FIFA’s ban removed formal TPO agreements but did not eliminate the financial pressures or influence risks that made the practice attractive, suggesting that a regulated system with transparency, registration and defined limits may have addressed FIFA’s concerns more directly than a complete prohibition.