Uefa has imposed a series of restrictions on the owners of clubs, including Brighton & Hove Albion and Aston Villa, in breach of multi-club ownership rules.
Under Uefa’s regulations owning more than one club is permitted but clubs that share the same owner are banned from playing in the same competition as one another.
Brighton owner Tony Bloom was also majority shareholder in Belgian Pro League side Royale Union Saint-Gilloise, with both clubs qualifying for the Europa League.
Aston Villa’s owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens held a large stake in Vitoria de Guimaraes, a Portuguese Primeira Liga side, via holding company V Sports. Both teams qualified for the Europa Conference League.
i first revealed Uefa’s Club Financial Control Body held a two-day summit to discuss potential multi-club ownership regulation breaches involving the Premier League sides.
Uefa has now confirmed the CFCB has forced the owners into making “significant changes” to the ownership structures of their clubs and the governing body has added strict measures to ensure greater distance is between them.
Until September 2024, the conflicting clubs assessed by the CFCB are banned from transferring or loaning players between them, they cannot share scouting networks or players databases and they cannot collaborate on technical or commercial agreements.
In order for each team in the ownership pairs to be allowed to compete in the same Uefa competition next season, they had to make a series of changes, including reducing investment stakes and removing members from club boards so that “no one has control or decisive influence over more than one club in a Uefa club competition”.
A Uefa statement read: “Following the implementation of significant changes by the clubs and their related investors, the CFCB First Chamber accepted the admission of the aforementioned clubs to the UEFA club competitions for the 2023/24 season. The CFCB found that the significant changes implemented brought the clubs into compliance with the multi-club ownership rule.”
It added: “The significant changes that were implemented relate to the ownership, governance and financing structure of the concerned clubs. These changes substantially restrict the investors’ influence and decision-making power over more than one club, ensuring compliance with the multi-club ownership rule.”
i first revealed that the Villa owners had been forced by Uefa to reduce their stake in Vitoria de Guimaraes from 46 per cent to 29 per cent and remove members from the club’s board in order to comply with Uefa’s rules.
“V Sports has announced that it has reduced its stake in Vitoria Sport Clube – Futebol, SAD to 29 per cent by transferring shares equaling 17 per cent of the club’s total equity back to Vitoria SC,” Aston Villa said in a statement.
“It also no longer has any representation on the board of directors of Vitoria Sport Clube – Futebol, SAD in order to comply with all Uefa regulations and ensure the independence of both Vitoria Sport Clube – Futebol, SAD and Aston Villa FC.”
Uefa’s CFCB also examined the ownership structures of Italian side AC Milan and French club Toulouse, owned by RedBird Capital Partners. A potential conflict could have arisen if AC Milan finish third in their Champions League group and dropped into the Europa League, where Toulouse will play next season.
This would not be a problem from the start of the 2024/25 season, when clubs that finish third in their Champions League group will no longer enter the Europa League.
Club owners and executives have been monitoring the outcome of Uefa’s CFCB ruling on the three pairs of clubs, with the multi-club model identified as football’s next frontier.
Chelsea became the latest English club to start a network when its parent company BlueCo purchased French side Strasbourg. There is currently no conflict as neither club qualified for European competition last season.
Clubs including Manchester United and Newcastle United are also exploring buying teams in other leagues.
Manchester City pioneered the multi-club ownership practice, purchasing clubs across the world under the City Football Group umbrella since 2013.
Uefa’s tough stance on next season’s conflicts could cause clubs to think carefully about joining part of another team’s network.
It will, however, have been noted that the governing body allowed the owners time to restructure their stakes and influence in clubs rather than punish them with disqualification. Under the regulations the lower-ranked side can be disqualified from competing.
Uefa intends to continue closely monitoring the six clubs to ensure compliance.
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