Aston Villa's holding company, V Sports, has announced that it has reduced its stake in Vitoria Sport Clube.
It comes after UEFA have examined Villa’s relationship with the Primeira Liga club after both teams qualified for European football next season. To ensure the integrity of its club competitions (Champions, Europa League and Conference League), UEFA’s Article 5 regulations prohibit an individual controlling decisions and having influence at more than one club competing in Europe. Brighton and Union Saint-Gilloise, as well as AC Milan and Toulouse have also been examined.
Villa’s holding company, V Sports, acquired 46 per cent of the shares in Vitoria earlier this year, which signalled an important step forward in the global expansion of the group’s portfolio. And in an update, the group have released the following statement on avfc.co.uk: "V Sports has today announced that it has reduced its stake in Vitoria Sport Clube – Futebol, SAD to 29% by transferring shares equalling 17% of the club’s total equity back to Vitoria SC.
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"It also no longer has any representation on the board of directors of Vitoria Sport Clube – Futebol, SAD in order to comply with all UEFA regulations and ensure the independence of both Vitoria Sport Clube – Futebol, SAD and Aston Villa FC."
Article 5.01 of UEFA’s rules state that no club participating in one of their competitions can directly or indirectly hold or deal in the security of shares of any other club participating in a UEFA competition, be a member of any other club participating in a UEFA competition, be involved in any capacity whatsoever in the management, administration and/or sporting performance of any other club participating in a UEFA club competition; or have any power whatsoever in the management, administration and/or sporting performance of any other club participating in a UEFA club competition.
Furthermore, no individual or legal entity may have control or influence over more than one club participating in a UEFA club competition. Such control or influence is defined by UEFA as holding a majority of the shareholders’ voting rights; having the right to appoint or remove a majority of the members of the administrative, management or supervisory body of the club; being a shareholder and alone controlling a majority of the shareholders’ voting rights pursuant to an agreement entered into with other shareholders of the club; or being able to exercise by any means a decisive influence in the decision-making of the club.
Article 5.02 explains that if two or more clubs fail to meet the criteria, then only one of them may be admitted to a UEFA club competition. The team who would retain their place in the competition would be the club who ranked higher in their respective league.
