Power, influence and Uefa's multi-club mess

Drogheda United have been removed from Uefa competition for breaching multi-club ownership regulations.

On Monday night, just hours before their League of Ireland clash with Shamrock Rovers, a CAS ruling laid down the inevitable - Drogheda United would not be included in this week’s Europa Conference League draw.

The past season’s FAI Cup winners fell afoul of the multi-club mess that is proliferating worldwide, especially across European football. Trivela, the 100% owners of Drogheda, also have a 80% share in Danish side Silkeborg who had qualified for the competition through their own domestic cup victory.

The Danes finished higher in their respective league than Drogheda, and Uefa ruled the Irish side would face removal from the competition for failing to adhere to the multi-club regulations where ownership are not allowed to have at least a 30% voting power in more than one club competing within the same competition.

Drogheda eventually brought their appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, where it was denied after a long hearing on Monday. The basis of their appeal centred on supposed communication failures around changed dates to comply with multi-club regulations, however CAS found that the FAI - the Irish footballing body - were notified last October of the change, so it seems communication issues may have fallen down within Irish football ranks rather than on a broader European level.

“The change has been approved and communicated early to enable clubs to prepare and ensure their compliance with the multi-club ownership criteria stipulated in Article 5.01 ahead of the new deadline for the 2025/26 season.”

This all comes at a crucial time for the future and prevalence of multi-club ownership structures. Drogheda’s failed appeal will have resonated far beyond the League of Ireland, especially for clubs across Europe grappling with similar ownership entanglements.

Crystal Palace will have been watching intently and hoping the Irish side got a positive result, as they await judgement

The Premier League club are in danger of a potential breach of multi-club ownership regulations, as their majority shareholder John Textor has a controlling stake in Lyon. Both teams have qualified for next season's Europa League, although Palace argue that American businessman Textor has no say over decisions as he only has 25% of the voting power.

Ironically, if Palace fail to comply with their ownership structure, Nottingham Forest may be the ones to benefit - after owner Evangelos Marinakis diluted his control of the club back in April in anticipation of European competition, however they were hoping to avoid a multi-club clash with his Greek club Olympiakos in the Champions League, but a late-season drop in form saw the club fall out of contention for Europe.

Swiss Ramble breaks down Palace’s ownership puzzle in much more polished fashion here, with Brazilian club Botafogo and RWD Molenbeek of Belgium also tied up Textor’s burgeoning football portfolio.

In a way that feels almost uniquely Irish, Drogheda have become the first club ever removed from European competition under UEFA’s multi-club ownership rules. But as the Louth club face the harsh reality of penalisation, it’s a reminder of just how prevalent multi-club structures have become, where power, money and influence are more adeptly able to sidestep the rules and challenges laid down by ruling bodies in an effort to curtail their influence.

The Red Bull suite of clubs are the most obvious, but formal separation of ownership structures, cosmetic changes to branding and operations and a more strategic use of affiliation rather than outright ownership, means the Red Bull crew have skillfully worked around Uefa’s claws. In reality, it’s likely Red Bull have heavy influence at both Leipzig and Salzburg, but UEFA has accepted the formal separations as sufficient under its current rules.

Likewise, the City Football Group which comprises of Manchester City, Girona, Palermo, Troyes and Lommel SK, have followed similar methods of evasion to avoid any multi-club issues in European competition, as City and Girona competed alongside each other in the Champions League last season without any issue. Beyond just Europe, CFG owns or has stakes in 12 clubs across 5 continents, forming a global talent pipeline and commercial network, sharing resources, analytics, scouting, and in some cases playing style, all anchored around the north star of Manchester City.

Chelsea, with Todd Boehly and Clearlake, has a full ownership stake in RC Strasbourg of Ligue 1, which has become a developmental territory for young club talents to get some gametime. Although they haven’t shared a European competition yet, you can be sure they have the expertise and resources to safely round any issues, just like their masterful circumvention of potential PSR troubles.

Beyond the aforementioned, clubs like Liverpool are actively looking to acquire a club and expand their football model beyond just Anfield, taking a leaf from Chelsea and City. As football becomes more homogenized, it’s likely the higher end of European competition will be a blob of affiliations and multi-club structures, all managing to eschew any trouble from Uefa.

Sadly for Drogheda and owners Trivela, they were unable to apply the same structural Jenga as Europe’s higher powers, and become an unwanted footnote in this upcoming season’s Conference League. Whilst it’s not exactly one rule for one, and there is another discussion entirely on the arrival of American hedge fund ownership at small clubs like Drogheda, this is a cautionary tale and there is clearly a power tilt in how money, capital and influence can bend and flex around Uefa’s own rulebook.

As the Red Bulls march on and multi-club empires grow unchecked, a community-rooted club, with just over 2,000 fans in an Irish town of about 50,000, will miss out on a moment that could have meant everything.