Picture the scene. Girona are one victory away from winning LaLiga and realising an incredible football fairytale by beating Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid and Barcelona to the title, just two years after promotion from the Segunda Division. But 1,000 miles away, Manchester City have just seen their Premier League title bid falter and the best they can achieve is second spot.
No big deal, right? You can’t be champions every year, not even Pep Guardiola’s dominant City team.
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But that hypothetical scenario has a strong chance of becoming a reality this season, with Girona top of LaLiga and City five points off top spot in the Premier League. The potential ramifications of that are why multi-club ownership has become such a big issue in football, prompting UEFA president Aleksandar Ceferin to say last year that regulations surrounding club ownership must be “strict.”
It is all about transparency and avoiding the prospect of two or more clubs being controlled by owners with a decisive influence over them. As such, the nightmare scenario for UEFA, and football itself, is the threat of Girona being directed to NOT win LaLiga by their owners in order to ensure that City don’t miss out on a place in next season’s Champions League.
It sounds a far-fetched notion, but under UEFA regulations (article 5.02, to be precise) no two teams from within the same ownership group can compete against one another.
Should two clubs from the same ownership group qualify for the same UEFA competition, the side which finishes highest in its domestic championship gets the place. If the two teams finish in the same position, the one with the highest club co-efficient (City in this case) would be awarded qualification. But if Girona win LaLiga and City finish second in the Premier League, Girona would play in next season’s Champions League and City would drop into the Europa League.
That reality is why a remarkable LaLiga triumph for Girona could be very bad news for Manchester City — the satellite club potentially denying the senior team in the group the prestige and financial boost of playing in the Champions League.
There is no suggestion that Girona would be told to ease off in LaLiga simply to prevent City from missing out on a place in the Champions League, but it is the possibility of undue influence that is the issue.
Girona’s club crest is proudly displayed on the wall of the City Football Academy — Manchester City’s training ground — as one of the 13 clubs within the City Football Group (CFG), alongside others including New York City FC, Yokohama F. Marinos, Melbourne City, Palermo and, of course, reigning Premier League and Champions League winners Manchester City.
