Co-ownership of players to be abolished in Italy

The FIGC has ruled to stop co-ownership of players after the upcoming season.

By Calvin@Mr_Faded_Glory May 29, 2014, 6:18am CEST

The ruling body of Italian football (FIGC) announced Tuesday on its website its decision to stop teams from shared ownership of players in the future. The 2014-15 season will be the last one to allow this and all teams involved are expected to either purchase full rights or give up their half-share of all players currently under co-ownership agreements.

This is what the FIGC president Giancarlo Abete had to say during the press conference:

"From the next transfer window onwards, the co-ownership of players will no longer be possible."

"Those agreements already in existence can still be extended for one more year."

"Many times, questions have been raised on this issue regarding public opinion and fiscal problems, highlighting how atypical this practice is on a European and fiscal scale. We know that not all clubs were in favour [of abolishing it], even if the majority agreed."

"This has been questioned many times by public opinion and it is also evident that it is atypical compared to the rest of Europe."

Juventus are one of the clubs that have taken advantage of this option by sending out their fringe players to develop and get playing minutes, but there are fears that it will be the smaller clubs that usually take on the budding stars of the Italian game on their squads that will be hardest hit.

While the co-ownership system has its critics, it's biggest advantage over a simple loan system is that the team that receives the player for the season stands to benefit financially from developing the player and increasing his market value. The simplest example of this would be Ciro Immobile who played for Torino —but is half-owned by Juventus — this last season and won the Capocannoniere title. After the previous season when he only scored five times for Genoa, this should his valuation a world of good.

The flip side however happens when the two teams that co-own a player disagree on the player's valuation when fully selling the player to a third team. In Immobile's case, Juventus believe the player to be worth €25 million while Torino would be satisfied with €18 million. Borussia Dortmund have been linked most recently with Immobile and are now struggling to meet terms with both Juventus and Torino regarding his true value.

Here is a list of players that Juventus has co-ownership agreements on -

GK Carlo Pinsoglio (with Vicenza)

GK Laurențiu Brănescu (with Lanciano)

GK Vincenzo Fiorillo (with Sampdoria)

DF Frederik Sørensen (with Bologna)

DF Alberto Masi (with Ternana)

DF Hörður Magnússon (with Spezia)

DF Prince-Désir Gouano (with Atalanta)

DF Nazzareno Belfasti (with Pro Vercelli)

MF Luca Marrone (with Sassuolo)

MF Luca Castiglia (with Vicenza)

MF Andrea Schiavone (with Siena)

MF Mattia Proietti (with Bassano Virtus)

MF Giuseppe Ruggiero (with Pro Vercelli)

FW Manolo Gabbiadini (with Sampdoria)

FW Simone Zaza (with Sassuolo)

FW Domenico Berardi (with Sassuolo)

FW Ciro Immobile (with Torino)

FW Stefano Beltrame (with Sampdoria)

FW Cristian Pasquato (with Udinese)

FW Elio De Silvestro (with Reggiana)

FW James Troisi (with Atalanta)

FW Leonardo Spinazzola (with Siena)

FW Filippo Boniperti (with Parma)

FW Alberto Libertazzi (with Novara)

NOTE: List of players on loan from Juventus to other clubs