March 18 – The Brussels Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal by Doyen Sports Investments, the Belgian second-division club Seraing United and the Spanish Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional (LFP) against FIFA, UEFA, the Belgian FA and FIFPro that sought a temporary injunction to suspend the worldwide ban on third-party ownership.
The decision upheld the position of the Brussels first-instance tribunal which had previously ruled there was no evidence to prove the ban contravened EU law.
The Court of Appeal emphasised, inter alia, the opacity of TPO, the absence of control by governing bodies, the significance of this worldwide phenomenon and of the amounts of money involved, as well as the environment which is prone to corruption and other fraudulent practices.
For these reasons, it held that a prima facie finding that the ban on TPO infringes EU competition law was impossible to make.
In a statement, FIFA said the ban on TPO was “indispensable for preserving the independence of clubs and players and for ensuring the integrity of matches and competitions.”
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