Uefa president makes club ownership admission that could aid Qataris' Manchester United takeover bid

Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin has claimed that European football's governing body "pretends" that at least one club playing in Uefa club competitions does not share the same owners with another.

Ceferin made the claim amid Qatari banker Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani's plan to complete a full takeover of Manchester United. Sheikh Jassim submitted an official offer to purchase the club from the Glazer family in February and representatives of his visited Old Trafford last month to hold talks with United officials.

The takeover of United will reach the third round of bidding this Friday and the Glazer family will assess all of the final bids that are submitted. Sheikh Jassim is the favourite to secure control of the club ahead of British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe, even though it remains to be seen if the Glazers will commit to a full sale.

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Ceferin's approval could prove crucial to a successful Qatari bid to buy the Reds, with French giants Paris Saint-Germain already owned by a subsidiary of the state's sovereign wealth fund Qatar Investment Authority (QIA). Sheikh Jassim has been adamant throughout the bidding process that his bid is a standalone offer, is private and has no connections to the QIA.

His family, however, do have historic links to the QIA, of which Qatar Sports Investments - which owns PSG - is a direct subsidiary. Throughout this whole process, concerns have been raised about the prospect of PSG and United being linked to the same owners.

"For now we are just discussing it," said Ceferin, speaking about multi-club ownership on US football podcast Men In Blazers. "There are clubs – or at least one – where we still