ABSTRACT
Starting in the mid-1990s, two events – completely isolated and independent from each other – combined to give birth to what is now called third-party ownership (TPO). In South America, enormous flows of direct foreign investment, hungry for unexploited natural resources, led to substantial and sustained economic growth in the region, and consequently for new and more sophisticated business opportunities. 2 Football stood apart from this economic success story, however: several clubs were facing bankruptcy, and most were struggling to survive. Banks, sponsors and television were turning their back on the activity. Meanwhile, in Europe, the freedom of movement of individuals and workers was having a major impact on the football transfer market, since European players were no longer considered as foreigners by clubs within the European Union. This catapulted the demand for and ‘prices’ of players worldwide, 3 and the trend was quickly read by entrepreneurial South American businessmen as a good business opportunity: on the one hand, South American clubs were begging for new funds, and their players remained as their sole ‘assets’; on the other hand, European clubs, with plenty of cash in their pockets, were thirsty for the well-known talented South American players. 4
