Manchester (UK) – World football governing body FIFA on Thursday said it has handed out a series of fines to clubs for transfer deals involving “third-party influence”.

Poland’s Grzegorz Krychowiak (R) and Nigeria’s Victor Moses vie for the ball during the international friendly football match of Poland vs Nigeria in Wroclaw, Poland, on March 23, 2018, in preparation of the 2018 Fifa World Cup. / AFP PHOTO

FIFA policy on third-party ownership bans either clubs or players from entering into economic rights agreements with third-party investors.

Frequently such deals involve outside investors retaining or gaining a share of ownership in a player.

Portugal’s Sporting Lisbon was fined 110,000 Swiss francs (80,123.33 pounds).

The fine was for “entering into two contracts which enabled a third-party to influence the club’s independence, as well as for failing to record an existing third-party ownership agreement”.

Another Portuguese club Benfica was fined 150,000 francs for two deals involving third-parties.

Spain’s Rayo Vallecano was fined 55,000 francs for a third-party deal, while Celta Vigo was sanctioned 65,000 francs for a deal which FIFA said “enabled Benfica to influence the club’s independence”.

Qatari club Al Arabi was fined 185,000 francs for several third-party deals and for not entering correct information in FIFA’s mandatory International Transfer Matching System in the cases of seven transfers.(Reuters/NAN)