“Soccer’s hot stove league — the winter transfer window — fired up again Thursday, beginning a monthlong frenzy in which some of Europe’s best-known teams will buy and sell the rights to some of the world’s best players. But as teams around the world prepare for the semiannual flurry — there is a longer summer window — everyone involved does so with a new era looming: Third-party ownership, which for years drove the market by allowing outside investors to buy pieces of a player’s future to profit from his eventual sale, will soon be banned. At its core, third-party ownership, or T.P.O., is simple: An investor gives money to a club in exchange for a share of a player’s future transfer fees. Many clubs, particularly in South America and Eastern Europe, build their rosters around T.P.O., either as a hedge against a young player’s development prospects or to raise capital for more immediate needs.” NY Times