The Scottish Government should step in to protect the rights of children who are being signed to professional football clubs, Children's Commissioner Tam Baillie has told MSPs.
Mr Baillie said he has "no confidence" in self-regulation by the sport to fix concerns around how young players are being treated.
Holyrood's Public Petitions Committee is examining a long-running petition from campaigners William Smith and Scott Robertson on improving youth football in Scotland.
Mr Baillie said while the Scottish Football Association (SFA) has made some changes in response to concerns, there are still a number of outstanding issues.
He said children signed with professional clubs are now allowed to play for their school teams, while a children's well-being and rights officer has been appointed and a complaints process established.
But he said there are still problems with the compensation scheme operated by clubs with regard to child players, and issues with three-year contracts for 15-year-olds, the minimum wage and the involvement of football agents.
Compensation payments are paid between clubs for youngsters, with sums calculated by an SFA formula. This equates to around £3,000 per season.
Mr Baillie said: "As soon as a child signs with a club there is a price on their head because that price is the cost of the compensation to another club to release that child to play for them.
"To me it gets in the way of decisions in the best interests of children."
Under the youth development scheme, players aged 15 are required to enter into a one year contract with an SFA club, with the club retaining the right to "hold" that player for a further two years.
Mr Baillie said this amounts to, in some cases, holding children "against their will" for three years.
"As far as I can see, all of the power is with the clubs and very little with children or young people," he added.
He said the clubs are not interested in changing the system, adding that money is a "contaminating" factor.
"My message to the Government is they are going to have to get involved in some shape or form, because my estimation and my experience of having dealings with the SFA and SPFL (Scottish Professional Football League) is that they have structures that will not allow, or they are not willing to make the necessary changes that have to happen," he said.
"That's why I think they are intransigent on some of these other matters.
"To my mind, when money comes into the equation then the best interests of children tend to be less of a central focus."
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