UEFA have cleared Aston Villa to play in the Europa Conference League next season, but will impose a series of restrictions on the Premier League club following an investigation into their relationship with Vitoria Sport Clube.
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. But, last month, V Sports then reduced its stake in the Portuguese club by shares equalling 17 per cent of the club’s total equity back to Vitoria.
Both clubs qualified for European football last season and to ensure the integrity of its club competitions (Champions League, Europa League and Conference League), UEFA’s Article 5 regulations are in place to prevent a potential conflict with the multi-club ownership rules.
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Earlier this summer, the first chamber of the UEFA club financial control body (CFCB first chamber) opened proceedings against Villa and Vitoria, Brighton and Royal Union Saint-Gilloise, and also AC Milan and Toulouse. Following the implementation of significant changes by the clubs and their related investors, the CFCB first chamber accepted the admission of the aforementioned clubs to the UEFA club competitions for the 2023/24 season.
The CFCB found that the significant changes implemented brought the clubs into compliance with the multi-club ownership rule, considering that as of today, no club, either directly or indirectly, holds or deals in securities or shares of any other club participating in a UEFA club competition; no club is a member of any other club participating in a UEFA club competition; no one has any power whatsoever or is simultaneously involved, directly or indirectly, in any capacity whatsoever in the management, administration and/or sporting performance of more than one club participating in a UEFA club competition; and no one has control or decisive influence over more than one club in a UEFA club competition.
Some of the significant actions taken by the group of clubs include: significant reduction of the investors’ shareholding in one of the clubs, or transfer of the effective control and decision making of one of the clubs to an independent party; significant restrictions in the ability to provide financing to more than one club; no representation on the board of directors and no capacity to directly appoint new directors on the board of more than one club; no ability to participate in the general assembly or ability to participate in key decisions such as the approval of the budgets of more than one club; and no ability to exercise control over more than one club at the level of the board of directors or their general assemblies through veto rights or contractual arrangements entered into with other shareholders.
As additional evidence of their independence, all concerned clubs, including Villa, have accepted the following conditions: the clubs will not transfer players to each other, whether permanently or on loan, directly or indirectly, until September 2024; the clubs will not enter into any kind of cooperation, joint technical or commercial agreements; and the clubs will not use any joint scouting or player database.
