Will Qatar be allowed to own BOTH Man Utd and PSG?

Karan Tejwani

• 14 Feb 2023 03:33 CST
• 4 min read

The Qatar Investment Authority are interested in buying Manchester United as they look to add to their investments in England.

There are doubts over how this will be dealt with by UEFA as there could be an issue with Article 5 of their ownership rules, which prohibits one entity owning two clubs in the same competition, meaning one of Manchester United or Paris Saint-Germain could miss out on European football should they both qualify.

The Qatari bid is confident they won’t face any issues and their interest in Manchester United is separate from their investments in PSG, but UEFA will investigate the matter.

READ: Qatar bid to buy ALL of Man Utd: The latest

In the past, Red Bull proved their case and were successful in showing Red Bull Salzburg and RB Leipzig were not managed by the same entity, and Manchester United could take some tips from them.

How were Red Bull allowed to own Leipzig and Salzburg?

UEFA regulations stated that no ‘individual or entity’ can have a ‘decisive influence over the activities of more than one club in its tournaments’.

Article 5, Integrity of the Competition, states that the team that finishes higher in its domestic league would earn a place in the Champions League.

READ: Could Man Utd save Neymar from his PSG hell?

This has happened in the past: In 1997, Greek side AEK Athens weren’t allowed to play in the UEFA Cup because their owner, ENIC, the investment group, also owned Czech side Slavia Prague.

Four years later, Swiss outfit Servette dropped out of the same competition to allow Paris Saint-Germain to play in it. Both clubs were backed by French television conglomerate, Canal+

In 2017, as RB Leipzig and Red Bull Salzburg both qualified for Europe, UEFA investigated the matter and found that there was no collusion, despite the fact that they both had identical crests, kits and both played in the Red Bull Arena.

On 20 June 2017, UEFA confirmed that Article 5 of the Champions League’s regulations had not been breached and both Salzburg and Leipzig would be allowed to compete on the continental stage.

A statement said: “Following a thorough investigation, and further to several important governance and structural changes made by the clubs (regarding corporate matters, financing, personnel, sponsorship arrangements, etc.), the Club Financial Control Body deemed that no individual or legal entity had anymore a decisive influence over more than one club participating in a UEFA club competition.”

The structural changes mentioned in that statement included many people in management positions at Salzburg leaving their role.

Oliver Mintzlaff, Red Bull’s head of global soccer and Ralf Rangnick, the technical director for all clubs under the Red Bull umbrella, committed themselves fully to Leipzig in the months leading up to UEFA’s decision, rather than overseeing both clubs.

Both clubs have since played in the same European competition multiple times, including once in the same group in the Europa League in 2017-18.

Manchester United and PSG may have to go through the same process to prove to UEFA there won’t be a conflict of interest, and it’s something the Qatari bid will have to work tirelessly over.