Girona awaits authorization to play in the UCL thanks to Manchester City: sources

Girona faces a wait for UEFA clearance to play in next season’s Champions League as associate club Manchester City also secured a place in the 2024-25 competition, sources tell ESPN.

La Liga side Girona have qualified for the Champions League for the first time in the club’s 94-year history, and Saturday’s 4-2 win against Barcelona moved the team into second place and guaranteed a final in the top four this season.

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But with Girona being one of 13 teams within the City Football Group (CFG), their classification alongside City of the Premier League has raised a potential conflict with the multiple club ownership rule within Article 5 of the club competition regulations. of UEFA.

The CFG owns 47% of Girona, and another 35% belongs to Marcelo Claure, the Bolivian-American businessman who is president of Club Bolívar, another CFG team. Pere Guardiola, brother of City manager Pep, is the president of Girona.

According to UEFA competition rules, if two clubs from the same ownership group qualify for the same UEFA competition, the team that finishes best in its national championship will take the place. If the two teams finish in the same position, the one with the highest club coefficient (City in this case) would qualify.

With City, winners of the 2023 Champions League, needing just two points to secure second place in the Premier League (City will win the title for the fourth consecutive season if they win their remaining three games), the English team will take the CFG. place in the Champions League ahead of Girona by virtue of the factors described above.

But although sources have said that Girona are unlikely to be demoted to the Europa League to avoid a clash with City, the Spanish club will have to define its position and organizational independence from Manchester City in a Financial Control Body of UEFA Clubs (CFCB) this summer. before receiving authorization to play in the Champions League.

RB Leipzig and FC Salzburg, both owned by the Red Bull Group, have been allowed to play together in the Champions League in recent seasons, while last July, UEFA accepted the admission of several clubs to its competitions despite of concerns about potential shared ownership issues.

Aston Villa and Vitoria, Brighton and Union Saint-Gilloise and AC Milan and Toulouse were authorized to participate in UEFA competitions following a CFCB hearing.

Manchester United and Nice will also face a CFCB hearing if the two clubs, which are owned or partly controlled by Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s INEOS Group, qualify for the European competition.

Nice occupy a Europa League place in fifth position in Ligue 1, while United are outside the European places in the Premier League, but could still qualify for Europe through the league or by beating Manchester City in the FA Cup final on May 25.