UEFA is set to relax its timeframe for clubs to resolve multi-club ownership issues following a turbulent summer which saw Crystal Palace demoted to the Conference League.
The proposed rule change, lobbied at the European Football Clubs General Assembly in Rome earlier this month, would give clubs operating under multi-club ownership models more time to comply with regulations beyond the current March 1 deadline.
While the March mandate would remain in place, UEFA’s plans offer a grace period for clubs that could potentially qualify for the same competition under shared ownership.
Though not confirmed, the new deadline is expected to fall in early June, just before the draw for the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League qualifying rounds.
Article 5 of UEFA regulations state that to ensure the “integrity” of its competitions, owners of two clubs or more competing in the same competition must not be involved in “any capacity whatsoever in the management” of the club, as well as have no “power whatsoever”.
In the past, clubs have been able to comply with multi-club ownership rules by placing ownership stakes in blind trust, temporarily removing director control to satisfy rules.
Manchester United and Nice owner Jim Ratcliffe followed this route last season, placing his Nice shares in trust and removing himself from a position of authority in order for both clubs to compete in the 2024/25 Europa League.
Will Crystal Palace feel aggrieved?
While the new proposal will be welcomed by clubs under a multi-club ownership model, the changes come too little too late for some.
Earlier this year, Nottingham Forest lobbied for its Premier League counterpart Crystal Palace to be demoted to the Conference League and have them promoted to this season’s Europa League.
This was due to Crystal Palace and Lyon both being co-owned by John Textor under Eagles Football Holdings. Crystal Palace earned qualification to this season’s Europa League by winning the FA Cup in May, while Lyon earned qualification by finishing 6th in Ligue 1.
Textor failed to move his shares in either Crystal Palace or Lyon into a blind trust by March 1.
Instead, Textor sold his 43% share in Crystal Palace to Woody Johnson after the club won the FA Cup, but this ultimately proved too late after Forest officials provided evidence to UEFA of Crystal Palace of multi-club ownership rule breaking during the disciplinary hearing.
While Crystal Palace could earn as much as £15m from winning the Conference League this season, it is less than the £21m Tottenham Hotspur received from winning the Europa League.
The Eagles may still feel aggrieved this rule change proposal has come too late for its own fortunes, but it intends to avoid any similar debacles UEFA faced with Palace, Lyon and Forest in the future.
Multi-club ownership models have surged across European football. By the end of the 2024/25 season, nearly 42% of clubs from the Big Five leagues (Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A and Ligue 1) were under multi-club ownership.
Some of the most prevalent examples are the Red Bull Group (RB Leipzig, RB Salzburg, and Paris FC), as well as the City Football Group (Manchester City, Girona, and Palermo).
