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Manchester United, Manchester City free to play European football for 2024/25 campaign, UEFA confirms
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Published 05/07/2024 at 16:59 GMT+1
Both Manchester outfits have sister clubs - Nice and Girona respectively - and that ownership structure might have seen some or all of the teams prevented from entering the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League this season. However, UEFA have confirmed that changes to the French and Spanish sides mean that all four sides will now compete in their respective European tournaments.
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Manchester City and Manchester United have been given permission to take part in UEFA tournaments next season by the UEFA Club Financial Control Body.
Both City and United have affiliated clubs given their ownership structure, which complicates their involvement in tournaments where they might face sister clubs.
City and La Liga side Girona have both qualified for the UEFA Champions League for the forthcoming season, and are both owned by City Football Group.
United and Ligue 1 outfit Nice, who both qualified for the UEFA Europa League, are both owned or part-owned by INEOS group, controlled by Jim Ratcliffe.
Due to a potential conflict of interest - one that has seen United reportedly blocked from buying Nice defender Jean-Clair Todibo so far this summer - changes were made to all four clubs’ boards for UEFA to give them the go-ahead to take part in the tournaments.
UEFA said in a statement on Friday that there were: "significant changes made to the ownership, governance, and financial support of the concerned clubs" that could "substantially restrict the investors' influence and decision-making power."
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Girona and Nice have had their shares now given to independent trustees, "through a blind trust structure established under the supervision of the CFCB".
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The changes will revert at the end of the current season.
Ratcliffe became a co-owner of Manchester United last season after several months of negotiation with the majority owners, the Glazer family, while he has owned Nice since 2019.
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