Gary Neville chat sheds new light on Man Utd's potential Champions League ban
UEFA insist Manchester United are not the only club whose Champions League eligibility is being assessed by the governing body in relation to multi-club ownership.
United are on the verge of selling a significant stake to British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who is already involved with French club OGC Nice and Swiss outfit Lausanne-Sport, for around £1.3billion. The development has prompted questions over whether both United and Nice would be allowed to play in the Champions League in the same year.
Article 5.02 of UEFA's regulations states: "If two or more clubs fail to meet the criteria aimed at ensuring the integrity of the competition, only one of them may be admitted to a UEFA club competition".
At the time of writing, Nice sit second in Ligue 1 and United sit outside the Champions League places in England, meaning a Champions League ban for the latter isn't a factor as things stand. However, based on Ceferin's comments to Neville earlier in the year, changes may yet be on the way.
"We are not thinking about Manchester United only," Ceferin revealed on the Overlap in March. "We've had five or six owners of clubs who want to buy another club. We have to see what to do. The options are that it stays like that or that we allow them to play in the same competition.
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"I'm not sure yet. We have to speak about these regulations and see what to do about it. There is more and more interest in this multi-club ownership. We shouldn't just say no for the investments for multi-club ownership, but we have to see what kind of rules we set in that case because the rules have to be strict.
"From one point of view it's true if you are the owner of two clubs and they play in the same competition you can say to one club to lose because you want the other to win. But for you, as a football player, do you think it's so easy to do that, to tell a coach, lose the match because the other wants to win?"
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Sir Jim Ratcliffe has involvement with football clubs outside England (PA)Per UEFA's existing regulations, if two teams with shared ownership qualify for the same European competition then the one which finishes higher in their relevant domestic league would get the spot. If the two teams finish in the same domestic position, the one whose league sits higher in UEFA's access list would get the nod - at present, England is above France in the list.
A UEFA source previously told The Sun that the situation regarding European involvement is "clear". Under current rules, teams with common ownership are still able to take part in UEFA competitions if one is in the Champions League and another in the Conference League, as this would mean they could not possibly face one another.
The Champions League is due to introduce a new format from the 2024-25 season onwards, whereby 36 teams will take part in a Swiss-style system rather than the existing format of eight groups of four. This could see five Premier League teams theoretically qualify, though United currently sit four points adrift of fifth-place Aston Villa.
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