MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AFP) — FIFA moves to ban third-party ownership in football will badly hit clubs in Brazil and Argentina, the major traders in global talent such as Neymar and Colombian star Radamel Falcao, experts say.

About 90 per cent of players in Brazil’s top division are linked to third-party ownership (TPO) arrangements where rights to a player are controlled by investment funds and other opaque companies that buy up rising stars, according to a KPMG consultancy study.

Brazil accounted for more than 5,500 international transfers between 2011 and July this year, making it the world football commodities leader. Argentina was second with more than 2,600 players moving across borders.

But the two countries have some of the world’s most indebted clubs, which is why they are most prone to TPO. Brazilian and Argentinian clubs have told FIFA they could not survive without third party cash.

“There has never been so much money in Brazilian football, but the clubs are very indebted,” said Eduardo Carlezzo, a Sao Paulo lawyer specialising in sport. “This economic situation means the clubs need investors to recruit.”

When Neymar moved from Brazilian club Santos to Barcelona in 2013, or Falcao went from River Plate in Argentina to FC Porto in 2009, the European clubs had to haggle with clubs and investors.

Many outside investors treat players “under a slave regime because they say that as they have the player’s economic rights they can decide his future,” said Carlos Soto, president of the Chilean professional footballers union.