Co-ownership is a system whereby two football clubs own the contract of a player jointly, although the player is only registered to play for one club. It is not a universal system, but is used in some countries, including Italy, Argentina, Chile and Uruguay.

This type of deal differs from third-party ownership

Third-party ownership in association football

Third-party ownership in association football is the ownership of a player's economic rights by third-party sources, such as football agents, sports-management agencies, or other investors...

, in that in the latter, the player's contract is owned by a non-footballing entity, such as a management company.

Italy

The use of co-ownership deals in Italian football has been described as "common". They are regulated by Article 102 bis of FIGC Internal Organizational Regulations (Norme Organizzative Interne della FIGC) and are officially known as rights of participation (diritti di partecipazione). For a co-ownership to be set, a player must have at least two years left in his current contract. The co-ownership deal itself will last one season — though it may be terminated early — after which the two clubs shall decide whether to renew or to terminate the deal. Should they fail to reach an agreement, the issue shall be resolved via a blind auction. In case none of the clubs submit a bid, the rights to the footballer shall remain to the club who had the actual use of the player during the season.

When a player is in co-ownership between two teams, he can still be sent on a free loan to a third side, provided that both the owning clubs agree on the move. The club which the footballer is not currently playing for is allowed to sell its half share to another club, provided that the other owning club and the player agree.

An example of co-ownership in practice was when the Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

ian player Adriano

Adriano Leite Ribeiro

Adriano Leite Ribeiro , commonly known as simply Adriano, is a Brazilian footballer who played striker who currently plays for Corinthians...

 was co-owned by Inter

F.C. Internazionale Milano

Football Club Internazionale Milano, often referred to as Internazionale or simply Inter, is a professional Italian football club based in Milan, Italy. Outside Italy, the club is often called Inter Milan. They are the reigning FIFA Club World champions and Coppa Italia holders.Inter have always...

 and Parma

Parma F.C.

Parma Football Club , commonly referred to as just Parma, is an Italian professional football club based in Parma, Emilia–Romagna that will compete in Serie A for the 2011–12 season, having finished in twelfth position last season. Founded as Verdi Foot Ball Club in July 1913, the club changed its...

. Inter sold a half share in Adriano to Parma for £4M

Million

One million or one thousand thousand, is the natural number following 999,999 and preceding 1,000,001. The word is derived from the early Italian millione , from mille, "thousand", plus the augmentative suffix -one.In scientific notation, it is written as or just 106...

, who had the use of the player and had to pay his wages. If there had been a dispute over the rightful ownership of the player, it would have been settled by sealed bidding. Adriano had great success at Parma, which meant that Inter later paid £13.5M to buy out Parma's half share.

See also

• Transfer (association football)
• Third-party ownership in association football
  Third-party ownership in association football
  Third-party ownership in association football is the ownership of a player's economic rights by third-party sources, such as football agents, sports-management agencies, or other investors...