Man Utd at risk of being banned from Champions League

According to the regulations of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), two clubs with the same owner will not be allowed to participate in the same European Cup tournament. This will affect Manchester United.

The club’s owners are set to sell 25% of their shares to Jim Ratcliffe, giving the British billionaire full control over football management. The businessman also owns another club, Nice, which is currently second in Ligue 1.

If both Man Utd and Nice qualify for the Champions League, one of the two teams will be stripped of the right to compete in the tournament. In case Man Utd's position in the Premier League and Nice's position in Ligue 1 are equal, the "Red Devils" will be allowed to play in the Champions League because England is on UEFA's priority list of countries.

Man Utd and Nice will only be able to compete in European competition if one team is in the Champions League and the other is in the Conference League. UEFA wants to eliminate the possibility of teams with the same title meeting in the Europa League, following the path of relegation from the Champions League group stage.

Previously, UEFA also considered 3 cases related to the ownership of many clubs, including Aston Villa and Vitoria de Guimaresas, Brighton and Union Saint-Gilloise, AC Milan and Toulouse. Finally, the European football governing body still "gave the green light" for all 6 teams to participate in European cups.

However, the condition is that each team must make changes to the management apparatus, including reducing the shares of investors in one of the two clubs, or transferring control and decision-making to an independent party.

Other complex changes include restrictions on financing, investors not being represented on the club's board of directors or being able to appoint new directors, and not being able to participate in key decisions at many clubs.

From the 2024/25 season, the Champions League will change its format from a 32-team group stage to a 36-team format, playing on the “Swiss model” like chess and some esports. The 36 teams will be seeded based on past performance. In the first round, the first team will play the 36th team, the second team will play the 35th team. In the second round, the first-round winners will play each other, the drawn teams will play each other, and the losers will play each other.

After 10 rounds, the eight strongest teams will go straight to the round of 16. The next 16 teams will compete in a play-off to select the remaining eight teams to enter the round of 16. The teams from 17th to 24th will go down to the Europa League, while the bottom 12 teams will be eliminated.