With European football a very real possibility for Everton this season, they could yet face heartbreak due to UEFA’s strict multi-club ownership rules.
Everton currently sit 11th in the Premier League but are only two points of the Conference League position and three of Europa League qualification.
Italian Club Roma have nearly guaranteed European football this season, being seven points clear of Atalanta in the Serie A.
A potential problem could arise if both clubs qualified for the same European competition due to the ownership links.
Both the clubs are owned by the Friedkin Group via subsidiary companies.
Everton are controlled by Roundhouse Capital Holdings Limited with Analaura Moreira-Dunkel and Marcus Watts having significant control.
These two have previous involvement with Roma after their takeover, despite this it is said they no longer have direct involvement with the Italian club.
The issue Everton face is that the CEO of the Friedkin Group Dan Friedkin, is also the President at Roma.
The UEFA multi-club ownership rules are strict and where the reason Crystal Palace were demoted to the Conference League for this current season.
The decision came due to American Businessman, John Textor, owning a majority stake in French club Lyon whilst also holding a stake in Crystal Palace.
The rules state that clubs owned to a certain threshold or influence by the same person or group cannot compete in the same European competition.
Multi-club ownership has become extremely prevalent in the Premier league with 12 out of the 20 clubs being involved in multi-club ownerships.
The multi-club model can also cause other restrictions such as Manchester United and French club Nice not being able to sign players from each other due to Jim Ratcliffe’s INEOS having control in both clubs.
It is yet to been seen if this becomes a real issue for Everton but it could potentially cause more pain for the fans.
Season ticket holder Dylan Baldry said: “It just feels like more stress we don’t need, fighting for Europe is already tough enough without UEFA getting in the way.
“If we manage to finish in a European spot, which is very possible with how close it is in the table, to lose it over something like this would be really frustrating.”
Everton will have to prove there is no involvement of Friedkin in both clubs but they are confident they will have a solution.
(Featured image by By Luke Patrick)
