C’era una volta la TPO: la resistibile ascesa della finanziarizzazione nel calcio

Journal title IMPRESE E STORIA
Author/s Pippo Russo
Publishing Year 2026 Issue 2024/50
Language Italian Pages 27 P. 79-105 File size 249 KB
DOI 10.3280/ISTO2024-050004
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Between the late twentieth century and the early 2000s, the global football transfer market developed a distinctive form of financialisation: Third Party Ownership (TPO). Under this model, an external investor acquired a share of a player’s economic rights and profited from a future transfer, limiting clubs’ autonomy and potentially influencing when a player was sold or fielded. TPO thus diverted value generated within football to outside investors and transformed players into divisible financial assets, raising concerns about human dignity. It also symbolised a broader phase of intensified financialisation, marked by the rise of “super-agents” and the use of bridge clubs. FIFA banned TPO from 1 May 2015, yet a decade later doubts remain as to whether the practice has truly disappeared.

Keywords: Third Party Ownership (TPO); Transfer market; Economic rights; Super-agent; Bridge club.

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Pippo Russo, C’era una volta la TPO: la resistibile ascesa della finanziarizzazione nel calcio in "IMPRESE E STORIA" 50/2024, pp 79-105, DOI: 10.3280/ISTO2024-050004