Manchester rivals United and City will both be allowed to play in Europe next season – as UEFA rewrites multi-club ownership rules.
Current UEFA regulations state that no person or entity “may have control or influence over more than one club participating in a UEFA competition”.
Pep Guardiola’s side headline the City Football Group, which includes shock La Liga contenders Girona.
Newly confirmed United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his Ineos group also own Nice, who are second in France’s Ligue Un.
The current rules are based on defending the “integrity” of the competitions, so that clubs under common ownership cannot manipulate the results in favor of one or the other.
However, UEFA general secretary Theodoros Theodoridis has confirmed that Europe’s top players are actively discussing a revamp of the rules for next season which would give both City and United the green light to do what they can – and access to Β£100m in addition to possible cash prizes.
Theodoridis said: “It is a difficult issue and there are ongoing discussions, with club representatives and also with representatives of the European Club Federations.
“We have to decide what to do moving down because there is a change in our games.
βThere are some clarifications that need to be made about the rules because now there will be no feed-in between competitions, where clubs can drop from the Champions League to the Europa League, for example.
βRight now, because of the feeding system, there is an even bigger problem.
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βSo we are trying to look at that and at the same time talk to the clubs.
“Soon we will have the changes and you will be informed – because we have to adapt to the format after the 24th as well.”
Under current regulations, United would have to finish higher in the Prem than Nice in France to be allowed to play in the Champions League, with the French side then not allowed in any competition.
If they finished lower in the Prem, United could only play in Europe if they qualified directly for a certain competition – by finishing in the league or winning the FA Cup.
Even if Girona remain second in Spain – they are five points clear of third-placed Barcelona – City will be confident of entering next season’s competition by retaining the trophy or winning the Prem for a record fourth consecutive year.
But the proposed changes – expected to be confirmed at the next meeting of UEFA’s governing executive committee in Dublin in May – give United a potential Β£100m carrot to break into the top four.
And that would be up for grabs even for fifth place if English teams advance deep into Europe to claim one of the two extra Champions League spots in the expanded 36-team competition for each season’s best-performing nations.