Top Ad
I DIG Radio
www.idigradio.com
Listen live to the best music from around the world!
I DIG Style
www.idigstyle.com
Learn about the latest fashion styles and more...

UEFA hints at softening multi-club ownership rule

Written by 
Published in Soccer
Wednesday, 15 March 2023 16:15

UEFA should rethink its rules that prevent clubs in related ownership from playing in the same competition such as the Champions League, its president Aleksander Ceferin said Wednesday.

Ceferin, speaking in an interview with former Manchester United player Gary Neville, said UEFA was "not thinking about United only" in considering a review.

- Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (U.S.)

United's owners, the Glazer family, have invited offers to buy the storied club and a Qatari-funded bid and British industrialist Jim Ratcliffe have declared interest.

A Qatari sovereign wealth fund already owns Champions League regular Paris Saint-Germain and Ratcliffe's chemicals firm INEOS owns Nice, which regularly plays in UEFA's lower-tier competitions.

Both potential buyers could have problems with UEFA's rule that bars clubs playing in the same competitions in any season if owners have "decisive influence" over them.

Ceferin, who has held one international press conference since September, told Neville in a filmed interview released Wednesday that UEFA should move soon to rethink its rules.

"It has to be quick because, you know, everything has to happen quickly in football," the UEFA president said.

A UEFA panel of club finance experts accepted in 2017 that the Red Bull ownership group had created enough separation between Leipzig and Salzburg to allow both to enter the next Champions League together.

That ruling was met with some skepticism, however, and finding new flexibility in the rules that could ultimately benefit the Qatari bid for United would be another example of PSG seeming to get favorable decisions at UEFA.

PSG have emerged from two UEFA financial monitoring investigations with less severe consequences than many expected, and club president Nasser al-Khelaifi escaped sanction in a disciplinary case last year. A referee was confronted after a game which had eliminated PSG from the Champions League.

Al-Khelaifi is a close ally of Ceferin in soccer politics as a member of UEFA's executive committee, as the chairman of the European Club Association that helped stop the breakaway Super League project in 2021 and as the head of one of UEFA's most important commercial clients -- Qatari broadcaster beIN Sports.

UEFA warned last month of the integrity risks posed by "multi-club ownership" -- potential collusion on the field and in the transfer market -- in its annual review of the European soccer industry.

Researchers for UEFA identified "more than 180 clubs worldwide" in a multi-club investment structure involving the careers of more than 6,500 players. They said that was a five-fold increase within a decade.

"There is more and more interest for this multi-club ownership and we shouldn't just say no [to] the investments, and for multi-club ownership," Ceferin said. "But we have to see what kind of rules we set in that case, because the rules have to be strict."

Ceferin said any UEFA decision on relaxing the multi-club ownership rule would come to the executive committee he chairs. It includes Al-Khelaifi and UEFA treasurer David Gill, the former CEO at Man United who is still closely tied to the club.

Read 177 times

Soccer

Sources: Real Madrid bus in crash after UCL loss

Sources: Real Madrid bus in crash after UCL loss

EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsReal Madrid's bus was involved in a collision on Thursday on its re...

Sources: Van Nistelrooy set for Leicester job

Sources: Van Nistelrooy set for Leicester job

EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsFormer Manchester United forward Ruud van Nistelrooy is in line to...

Bale backs stuttering Mbappé: Still world's best

Bale backs stuttering Mbappé: Still world's best

EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsFormer Real Madrid star Gareth Bale defended Kylian Mbappé after th...

2026 FIFA


2028 LOS ANGELES OLYMPIC

UEFA

2024 PARIS OLYMPIC


Basketball

Leaks, team meetings, losses: The factors driving the Sixers' dreadful start

Leaks, team meetings, losses: The factors driving the Sixers' dreadful start

EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsTHE JULY 6 POST on Daryl Morey's Instagram page is even more perfec...

Injury-plagued Beal hobbles off in loss to Nets

Injury-plagued Beal hobbles off in loss to Nets

EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsPHOENIX -- Suns guard Bradley Beal limped off the court in the four...

Baseball

Dodgers minor leaguer suspended for doping

Dodgers minor leaguer suspended for doping

EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsNEW YORK -- Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Jose D. Hernandez was sus...

Crawford, 2-time WS champ with Giants, retires

Crawford, 2-time WS champ with Giants, retires

EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsSAN FRANCISCO -- Brandon Crawford is retiring after 14 major league...

Sports Leagues

  • FIFA

    Fédération Internationale de Football Association
  • NBA

    National Basketball Association
  • ATP

    Association of Tennis Professionals
  • MLB

    Major League Baseball
  • ITTF

    International Table Tennis Federation
  • NFL

    Nactional Football Leagues
  • FISB

    Federation Internationale de Speedball

About Us

I Dig® is a leading global brand that makes it more enjoyable to surf the internet, conduct transactions and access, share, and create information.  Today I Dig® attracts millions of users every month.r

 

Phone: (800) 737. 6040
Fax: (800) 825 5558
Website: www.idig.com
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Affiliated