Navigating multi-club ownership compliance: A practical guide for in-house legal teams

Multi-Club Ownership (MCO) has expanded dramatically from 25 to 124 groups between 2015 and 2023, with the number of clubs operating within these structures increasing from 62 to 301 according to a report by SportBusiness in collaboration with CIES Sports Intelligence.^[1] For in-house legal teams at football clubs already operating within MCO frameworks, the regulatory landscape has fundamentally shifted. UEFA has characterised MCO as presenting a "material threat to the integrity of European club competition",^[2] and recent enforcement actions demonstrate that governing bodies are prepared to impose severe sanctions for non-compliance.

This article briefly recaps recent cases to underscore the risks, and then highlights the main legal points that in-house counsel should consider if they are part of an MCO structure:

• The risks: recent enforcement cases
• Regulatory compliance: ensuring no control or decisive influence over multiple clubs
  • The rule
  • What it means in practice
  • Potential solutions: Blind trusts
  • Group restructuring (Red Bull example)
• Financial compliance: ensuring deals between commonly owned clubs are priced at fair market value (related party transactions)
  • Newcastle United example
• Transfer advantages and risks (post-Brexit for UK clubs)
• Practical recommendations for in-house legal teams