England, France join forces to fight ownership laws

The Premier League will join forces with Ligue 1 to lobby UEFA to change third-party ownership regulations.

The practice of allowing outside parties to own portions of a player’s rights was outlawed in England following controversy over Carlos Tevez’s registration at West Ham in 2006.

It is also banned in France but continues to be legal elsewhere in Europe.

The two leagues believe that third-party ownership poses a threat to the balance and integrity of European competition and could potentially see English and French sides left behind when UEFA’s new Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules come into force.

“Third-party ownership is prohibited under Premier League rules as we believe it threatens the integrity of the game,” said a spokesman for the Premier League.

“We are aware that it is permitted under UEFA’s financial fair play regulations and that this could create a disadvantage for our clubs competing in European competition.”

“We believe that restricting transparent owner equity investment while having no prohibition on third-party player investment seems at odds with the principles of FFP.”

“The Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) also restricts third-party ownership and we have had initial discussions with them to consider how we might work together to further highlight these issues at UEFA and FIFA level.”