An administrative sleight of hand, and UEFA has said yes to all clubs with the same owners or shareholders to compete in the European Cup next season.
In its ambition to tackle multi-ownership of clubs in Europe, UEFA has lost a battle. More and more clubs are taken over with an identical owner, thus creating empires which can threaten the fairness of competitions. This is why the European body has so far prohibited the presence of formations with the same main shareholder in a European Cup. The presence of Toulouse was thus called into question, knowing that the TFC is the property of RedBird Capital Partners as the main shareholder, just like AC Milan. Aston Villa and Vitoria had the same problem with their Egyptian owner Nassef Sawiris, as did Brighton and Tony Bloom’s Union Saint-Gilloise. But in the end, all these beautiful people can participate in European competitions without batting an eyelid, UEFA said on Friday, due to administrative changes that convinced the European body.
UEFA happy with administrative changes
” Following the implementation of significant changes by the clubs and their investors, the CFCB Trial Chamber has accepted the admission of the aforementioned clubs into the UEFA club competitions for the 2023/24 season. The CFCB felt that the significant changes put in place enabled clubs to comply with the rule regarding timeshare of clubs. More specifically, the significant changes that have been made relate to the structure of ownership, governance and financing of the clubs concerned. These changes significantly limit the influence and decision-making power of investors over multiple clubs, ensuring compliance with the rule regarding club timeshare », delivered UEFA, for which the guarantees are sufficient as long as the clubs of the same owner or shareholder, do not have managers involved in several clubs at the same time. No direct influence, rule eases and suggests UEFA will struggle to see this fight through, opening the door to ambitious takeovers of European clubs by the same shareholders, as Qatar is seeking to do with Manchester United, in addition to his involvement with PSG.
