Izuchukwu OkosiAmidst reports that Newcastle United are planning to follow in the footsteps of Manchester City and Chelsea who have bought franchises at some European clubs, the European football governing body, UEFA, is now ready to make some changes to their rules on club ownership.
City have stakes at Spanish club Granada in the La Liga and other parts of the world while Chelsea recently acquired French side, Strasbourg.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelHowever, there is no indication whatsoever the direction that UEFA will be taking, whether to further strengthen the rule or scrap it.
The governing body is set to hold a two-day meeting this week to discuss multi-club ownership in football.
UEFA’s Club Financial Control Body could either relax the rules and therefore give owners confidence in pushing other deals for clubs across the continent ahead.
However, they could also tighten regulations and cause havoc by denying clubs involved in multi-club systems to play in European competitions.
There are reports that UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin will lean towards a more lenient approach and alter rules to allow for multi-club set-ups by the start of the 2024/25 campaign and also allow them to participate in club competition too like UEFA Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League.
Current regulations do not stop club owners from investing in more than one team, so long as they are not in the same competition, but the lower-ranked side is currently disqualified as a result.
It had not posed too much of a problem for UEFA but a couple of pinch points have started to pop up over the last 12 months.
Brighton have qualified for the Europa League but owner Tony Bloom also has Belgian Pro League side Royale Union Saint-Gilloise to his name, who are currently in the Europa League play-offs.
Elsewhere, Aston Villa have qualified for the Europa Conference League but Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens-owned Portuguese side Vitória de Guimarães are also in the competition.
Ceferin recently said: “There is more and more interest for this multi-club ownership and we shouldn’t just say no [to] the investments, and 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.”
The Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF), which currently owns Newcastle United, does have majority stake in four Saudi Pro League clubs but none others that fall into UEFA ruling.
However, there have been reports of interest to invest with links to a purchase of Belgian Pro League club KV Kortrijk as part of a multi-club model.
Speaking at the Financial Times Business of Football Summit in London in March, co-owner Amanda Staveley revealed the Magpies were looking at the multi-club model in order to enhance its global brand and boost player recruitment.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
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