the City Group will have to reduce its stake in the capital of Girona so that the Spanish club goes to the Champions League

If he wants Girona to participate in its first Champions League next season, the City Group, its shareholder, must reduce its stake.

City Group Football, parent company of Manchester City, will have to reduce its stake in Girona, currently third in La Liga, for the Catalan club to play the first Champions League in its history next season, UEFA announced on Wednesday May 15.

Intended to avoid conflicts of interest, the regulation prohibiting two teams from participating in the same European competition if they have the same owner had to adapt to the recent expansion of club consortia, under various legal forms.

In a letter sent Wednesday evening to the heads of European teams, the UEFA club financial control body (CFCB) specifies that this ban covers multiple cases “of decisive influence” of an entity on the conduct of several clubs, well beyond the “control” linked to the majority of the capital.

Girona, 47% owned by the City Group since 2017, is assured of finishing in the top 4 of La Liga and qualifying for the C1, and was confident at the start of the season about respecting UEFA rules since the Emirati consortium does not have a majority stake.

But according to the letter from the CFCB, it is enough for an entity “holds 30% or more of the capital or voting rights of the club”, or even only 10% if it is its main shareholder. Among the other cases mentioned, the fact of representing at least 30% of the operational income, for example via a sponsorship contract, of holding key positions in the club structure or of having transferred at least three players in the same season.

For Manchester City and Girona to both line up in the queen of European competitions, the City Group will therefore have to reduce its share in the capital of the Catalan club by June 3, the deadline set by UEFA.

To avoid a hasty sale of shares, generally economically unfavorable, the letter from the CFCB nevertheless offers clubs a temporary possibility, limited to the coming season: transfer the shares into a trust fund without right of inspection, under the control of the UEFA.

Last year, the same rule on multi-ownership of clubs led to three procedures targeting respectively Toulouse and AC Milan, the English club Aston Villa and the Portuguese club Vitoria, as well as Brighton (England) and Union royal Saint-Gilloise (Belgium).

UEFA finally closed the three files after “significant changes” within the clubs concerned to limit the influence of their investors.