1. Corporate structure
    Doyen Group  Doyen Capital  Doyen Global Limited 

2. Doyen Sports

3. Legal Issues

4. References

Corporate structure

Doyen Group

Starting in 2008, the Doyen Group began investing in professional football via a sports investment subsidiary, quickly becoming a benchmark in the field of sports investment. When investing, the group did so at the level of the club rather than the players themselves.^[4]

In three years, from 2011 to 2014, Doyen brought "80 million euros in this type of operation, mainly in Europe".^[5] According to analysts Doyen, has become a key source of funding for cash-strapped football clubs. The investors pay teams for trading rights to select players, betting that the player’s trade value will rise. If that happens, the Doyen investors realize a profit when the player is transferred to the next team. “In a transparent and regulated environment TPI can be a safe, accessible tool for clubs to bring top talent, improving their competitiveness on the main stages of world football. We don’t want to live in a world where only rich clubs can win trophies”.^[3]

In three years, from 2011 to 2014, Doyen brought "80 million euros in this type of operation, mainly in Europe.^[4]

Doyen Capital

Doyen Group's financial division, Doyen Capital LLP, was based in London. It was dissolved on November 22, 2016.^[5]

Doyen Global Limited

Another group, called Doyen Consulting Limited (from 7 March 2013 to 9 April 2013) and then renamed Doyen Global Limited^[6][7] is directed by Simon Oliveira, Matthew Kay and Timucin Kaan.{{cn|date=December 2018}}

Doyen Sports

Doyen Sports specialized in third party investments, loaning money to clubs so that they could invest in players. In association football, this type of funding can replace the role of banks as a source of loans and credits.^[4] Doyen Sports also acted as an intermediary for the sale of audiovisual rights and rights for the image of professional players of major clubs, including certain of the players' rights.^[8] According to a 2016 article in the newspaper L'Équipe the Doyen Group managed the image rights of Neymar, Xavi, David Beckham, Usain Bolt and Boris Becker.^[9]

Doyen Sports lent money to professional clubs. The club then had an agreed upon a period of three years to repay its debt. The clubs could either retain the players and repay their debt to Doyen Sport within this timeframe, or resell the players to repay the same debt. The first operations of this type were carried out in Brazil and then concentrated on the area of the main European players' championships.^[10]

In 2011, in the shadow of the Spanish banking crisis, the Doyen Sports Group financed a number of Spanish sports clubs, including Sporting de Gijón.^[4] The group financed 55% of the transfer of Radamel Falcao from FC Porto to Atlético Madrid, advancing the Spanish club only €18 million. In 2013, Atlético Madrid sold Falcao to AS Monaco FC for €60 million.^[11]

In 2014, after acquiring 33.3% of the economic rights of the French player Eliaquim Mangala, Doyen Sports contributed to his transfer from Porto to Manchester City (for €40 million), of which only €22 went to Porto, with a large share of €17.9 million destined for Doyen Sports.{{cn|date=March 2019}}

In 2014, Doyen Sports also acted as intermediary in the sale of the Serbian player Dušan Tadic of FC Twente (with whom he had a contract)^[12] in Southampton.^[13]

In 2015, FIFA ruled that third party ownership of players was illegal and all future deals of this nature would be banned, Doyen and other companies were ordered to stop financing clubs, however they were allowed to continue business and collect on former deals.^{[3][14][15][16]}

A Brussels Court of Appeal in November 2018, has ruled in favor of Doyen Sports and its investment practices. Stating that the obligatory arbitration of the Court of Arbitration for Sport is illegal in the case concerning third party ownership of players. The case was brought by Doyen Sports, against FIFA and its decision to ban investment funds from loaning money to clubs.^{[17][18][19][20]}

Legal Issues

Third party ownership was thrust into the limelight in 2015, criticized by Michel Platini in 2015: "Some players are simply no longer masters of their sporting career and are transferred each year to enrich those unknowns eager for football money." The latter as President of UEFA contributed to the FIFA ban on the economic rights of footballers^[9] and to end what he considers a "shame" and "form of slavery", an opinion shared by FIFPro (the International Federation of Professional Footballers).

On 1 May 2015, this measure became effective, but was immediately challenged, before the European courts, by the Doyen Sports Group and the Portuguese and Spanish Leagues with the lawyer Jean-Louis Dupont.^[9][21][22]

Many observers, including lawyer Jim Gabriel-Michel, criticized the non-transparency of this fund, especially concerning its investors, which is a problem because it can be a source of hidden conflicts of interest : One has to worry and think about the conflicts of interest that this type of activity poses. One cannot be both the one who sells and the one who buys." (2015).^[4] However, Doyen Sports is a privately-owned company and as such had no obligation for transparency.^[4]

Doyen Sports has also been accused of a lack of transparency regarding the origin of its funds and of continuing to speculatively take "shares" in the football players of the clubs (at least forty players and coaches in 2015–2016) while this practice has been banned by FIFA since May 2015 and banned in France and Poland. The group had success with the CAS in its dispute with Sporting Portugal on the case Rojo (according to the newspaper The Team in December 2016).^[23][24][25]

In a court decision in Brussels in November 2018, it has been ruled that the “enforced arbitration” of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) is illegal 5, In its ruling the court suggested that the Swiss based CAS is not impartial and its decisions are in conflict with the European Convention Of Human Rights and the European Charter Of Fundamental Rights and this effectively throws out the FIFA ban and empowers local national courts to rule on such matters.^[14][18][20]

References

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