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Third-party ownership: FIFA sanctions Belgian football club for crowd-funding campaign
By Jonathan Himpe, International Sports Lawyer, Belgium
FIFA’s Disciplinary Committee, on 29 March, 2016, has imposed a CHF 60,000 fine on Belgian D1 club K. Sint-Truidense VV for entering into contracts that enabled a third party to influence the club’s independence in employment and transfer-related matters, as well as for entering into an agreement that assigns rights to a third party in relation to the future transfer of a player.
In essence, the sanction relates to an unprecedented crowd-funding campaign through which the Belgian club raised funds by its fans to finance the contract of Paganiotis Kynigopoulos (a.k.a. “Kyn”), a promising Greek youngster.
According to the FIFA Disciplinary Committee, such a crowd-funding campaign – of which the specifics are discussed below – is contrary to FIFA’s prohibitions on third-party influence and third-party ownership as contained in the FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players (RSTP):
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4 April, 2016
1CHF = 0.92EURO
- the practice of third-party influence has been banned by FIFA since 2008, meaning that clubs are prohibited from entering into contracts which enable any other party to acquire the ability to influence the club’s independence in employment and transfer related matters (Art. 18bis of the RSTP);
- FIFA’s ban on third-party ownership (TPO) only came into force on 1 May 2015 and entails – even in the total absence of any ability to exert an influence on the club – that clubs and players are prohibited from entering into agreements whereby a third party is entitled to participate in compensation payable in relation to the future transfer of a player, or is assigned any rights in relation to a future transfer or transfer compensation (Art. 18ter of the RSTP).