Manchester United may be banned from Champions League

A Manchester United logo is pictured outside of Old Trafford stadium, home ground of Manchester United football team, in Manchester, northern England. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP)

Manchester United face the embarrassing scenario of being barred from the Champions League due to Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s stake in the club, which is close to being confirmed, reports dailystar.co.uk.

Ratcliffe’s long-running pursuit of a stake in United is on the verge of being rubberstamped, with the Ineos billionaire set to take a 25 per cent portion of the club. Ratcliffe’s £1.3 billion deal will throw up some issues due to his ownership of French side, Nice, who are challenging Paris Saint-Germain for the Ligue 1 title.

With France set to be awarded three automatic places and a play-off spot for next season’s Champions League, Nice have a strong chance of being involved in Europe’s top club competition. Despite their dire start to the season, United will hope to be in the mix too, with the Premier League likely to be granted five spots for the new-look 36-team tournament.

However, under Uefa’s multi-club ownership rules, both sides wouldn’t be able to play in the Champions League. In fact, they would only both be able to play in Europe if one qualifies directly for the Champions League and the other makes it into the Uefa Conference League, reports The Sun.

If both sides finish in the Champions League spots in their leagues, the place will go the club that finishes high with the other will miss out. On current form, that is most likely to be Nice. If the clubs finish in the same position, United would get the nod thanks to England’s place at the top of Uefa’s ‘access list’.

United could even be barred from playing in the Europa League if Nice