City Group must sell shares of Girona for Champions League

In order for both Manchester City and Girona to compete in next season’s UEFA Champions League, City Football Group must make hard decisions. UEFA has strict rules regarding multi-club ownership and how much one ownership group can own of two teams. Currently, City Football Group owns 100% of Manchester City and 47% of Spanish side Girona. Both have earned qualification into the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League based on league placement.

Article Five of the UEFA Champions League Regulations states “no individual or legal entity may have control or influence over more than one club participating in a UEFA club competition.” That comes down to a controlling stake in multiple clubs. City Football Group’s 47% ownership of Girona is the most of its array of investors and owners. Consequently, Girona and Manchester City violate Article Five of the UEFA Champions rulebook.

There are ways around this for City Football Group. UEFA has reached out to the ownership group to provide outlets to allow both Girona and Manchester City to participate in next season’s competition. City Football Group has two options. On one hand, CFG can sell 17% of its shares to an independent third party. It must reduce its ownership in Girona to below 30%. The other option for City Football Group is to transfer all shares of one club to a blind trust overseen by a panel appointed by UEFA. City Football Group has the power to select that trustee.

A similar situation happened last year with AC Milan. Red Bird Capital needed to prove that Milan and French club Toulouse were run independently to ensure they could both play in Europe in 2023/24.

Girona and Manchester City have several close ties ahead of Champions League

It will be harder for Manchester City and Girona to prove how independent they are from one another ahead of next season’s UEFA Champions League. City Football Group has used Girona as a means to help develop several players. Among the standouts in that…

Source link : https://worldsoccertalk.com/news/city-group-must-sell-shares-of-girona-for-champions-league/

Author : Kyle Fansler

Publish date : 2024-05-14 21:14:59

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.