Man United owners INEOS say they are ‘convinced’ that the club will be allowed to compete in the Europa League next season.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his INEOS Group paid more than £1billion for a 27.7 per cent stake in the club in December, which will rise to close to 30 per cent following a further £238million injection.
The INEOS group also own French outfit Nice and this is where things become problematic.
United’s victory over Man City in Saturday’s FA Cup final means the Red Devils have now qualified for the Europa League, dropping Chelsea into the Conference League.
Nice have also booked their place in the tournament after finishing fifth in Ligue 1 and UEFA regulations have previously stated that while multiple teams under the same ownership umbrella can play in Europe going forward, a ban on said teams playing in the same competition remains in place.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s INEOS Group own two clubs that have qualified for the Europa League
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This has led to fears that United could be bumped down to the Conference League as Nice finished higher in their respective league.
However, INEOS are confident the situation will be resolved, issuing a statement which read: ‘We are aware of the position of the two clubs and we are in direct dialogue with UEFA.
‘We are convinced that we have a solution for next season in Europe.’
It appears as if united will be reprieved as Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s stake is less than the 30 per cent threshold for multi-club ownership rules to apply.
The INEOS group also own Nice and UEFA have rules over multi-club ownership
Ratcliffe’s stake is set to pass that with further investment but fortunately for the Premier League club the rules have been relaxed for the new season.
And Article 5.04 of the UEFA regulations now says a club that is replaced in one competition ‘may still be admitted to another UEFA club competition (i.e. in descending order: UEFA Europa League or UEFA Conference League) to which the relevant national association has access’.
