Manchester United discover Europa League fate as UEFA ban summer transfer

Manchester United will compete in the Europa League next seasonManchester United will compete in the Europa League next season
Manchester United will compete in the Europa League next season | AFP via Getty Images
Uefa have made a decision on Man Utd’s involvement in the Europa League and ended their pursuit of a transfer.

UEFA have confirmed both Manchester United and Nice can play in the Europa League in the forthcoming season but they will not be allowed to transfer players between both clubs.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

ManchesterWorld revealed back in May that Ineos were 'confident' both of their clubs would be allowed to participate in the same European competition next season. The Ineos Group currently owns 27% of United, but planned further investment would take their ownership stake above the 30% threshold for multi-club ownership rules to apply.

Under current Uefa 'multi-club ownership' rules, two clubs that share the same owners are prevented from both participating in the same competition unless they are given special dispensation. The team that finished in the higher league position would usually be granted entry, while the other would be banned from participating and could be relegated to the Conference League instead.

Nice secured a place in the revamped second-tier continental club competition by finishing fifth in Ligue 1, while United qualified for the competition by defeating Man City in the FA Cup final.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

After a ruling by the First Chamber of the Uefa Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) they have ruled that both United and Nice will be allowed to compete in the Europa League “following the implementation of significant changes by the concerned investors” in Nice to show no one has “control or decisive influence” over both teams.

In addition, United and Nice have agreed not to transfer players to each other "whether permanently or on loan, directly or indirectly, from July 2024 until September 2025, with the exception of pre-existing transfer agreements that had been entered into before the opening of the CFCB proceedings. The two clubs will not use any joint scouting or player database, with the ruling ending any hope of United signing defender Jean-Clair Todibo for the foreseeable future.

Last month, Ratcliffe labelled the ban on signing players from Nice as ‘unfair’. Although he did not directly name the player in question, the United co-owner confirmed that any moves were expected to be off the table this summer. “We've got a player in Nice who was really interested in joining Manchester United and I think he probably has the capability of being in the Manchester United squad,” Ratcliffe told Bloomberg. “They’ve (UEFA) said we can sell him to another Premiership club, but we can’t sell to Manchester United. But that’s not fair on the player and I don’t see what that achieves.”

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.