UEFA fire warning amid Manchester United and Sir Jim Ratcliffe Champions League worry
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has warned Sir Jim Ratcliffe that owning two or more clubs is a 'no-go' amid fears that Manchester United are at risk of being banned from European competitions.
As the current UEFA rules state, the 'multi-club ownership' rule, as quoted in Article 5, explains how two teams with the same owner cannot compete in the same European competition. Ratcliffe's deal to acquire a 25 percent stake in United is set to be ratified in early February, while his Ineos group already owns Nice.
The other available option for both teams to compete in Europe at the same time would be if United qualified directly for the group stages and Nice were to finish in the Europa Conference League spots, or vice-versa.
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The Reds were knocked out of the Champions League after finishing bottom of Group A and a defeat to Bayern Munich. Nice, meanwhile, sit second in Ligue 1 and are looking to qualify for Europe's premier club competition after finishing ninth last season.
Back in November, Ceferin hinted that these rules could soon be scrapped. However, after a meeting on the issue was held last week, he said he wanted the rules to define clearly what constituted a 'decisive influence' on more than one club.
He told The Telegraph: "You know football. Big English club can lose 3-0 to a small Portuguese club, if you want, because they have a bad day. Imagine that it’s the same ownership? [You would] say, ‘Look, your competition is fixed’, and then you start losing everything. This is my biggest problem where I
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