Billionaire Jim Ratcliffe’s acquisition of club shares could cause Man Utd to viоlate Champions League regulations.

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

The owner of this club is preparing to sell 25% of its shares to Jim Ratcliffe, and at the same time give full decision-making authority on football management to the British billionaire. This businessman also owns another football team, Nice. Currently, this club is ranked 2nd in Ligue 1.

In case both Man Utd and Nice qualify for the Champions League, one of the two teams will be deprived of the right to compete in the tournament. In case the positions of Man Utd in the Premier League and Nice in Ligue 1 are equal, the “Red Devils” will be able to participate in the Champions League because the English tournament is on UEFA’s list of priority countries.

Man Utd and Nice will only be able to participate in the European Cup if one team participates in the Champions League, and the other team participates in the Conference League. UEFA wants to eliminate the possibility of teams with the same owner meeting in the Europa League, following the path of falling from the Champions League group stage.

Previously, UEFA also considered three cases related to the ownership of many clubs, including Aston Villa and Vitoria de Guimaraes, Brighton and Union Saint-Gilloise, AC Milan and Toulouse. In the end, European football’s governing body still gave the “green light” for all 6 teams to participate in the European Cup.

However, the condition is that each team must make changes in the management system, which includes reducing the shares of investors in one of the two clubs or transferring control and decision-making rights 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 important decisions at many clubs.

Starting from the 2024/25 season, the Champions League will change its format from the 32-team group stage to 36 teams, competing according to the “Swiss model” like chess and some electronic sports. The 36 teams participating in the tournament will be seeded based on past achievements. In the first round, the first team meets the 36th team, the second team meets the 35th team. In the second round, the first-round winners will meet, the tied teams will meet and the losing teams will meet.

After 10 rounds, the 8 strongest teams will go straight to the 1/8 round. The next 16 teams will compete in a play-off to select the remaining eight teams in the 1/8 round. Teams from 17th to 24th will drop into the Europa League, while the bottom 12 teams will be eliminated.