UEFA president has given Man Utd hope of avoiding potential Champions League 'ban' next season

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has given Manchester United hope of avoiding a Champions League ban next season.

United owners the Glazer family are exploring “strategic alternatives” for the club, with both Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Qatari banker Sheikh Jassim having placed revised bids for the Premier League giants last week.

And according to ESPN should Ineos owner Ratcliffe win the race to purchase his boyhood club, he could be forced to sell his stake in Ligue 1 side Nice to avoid either team being excluded from the Champions League.

Indeed, Article 5.02 of UEFA regulations forbids two teams controlled by the same party from competing in the same competition.

In turn, should Nice and an Ratcliffe-owned United claim a Champions League qualification spot in their respective leagues the club finishing higher would take the place in the competition.

For example, if United were to finish fourth in the Premier League and Nice were to take third in Ligue 1, the French side would be awarded a Champions League place ahead of the Manchester club.

Of course, such a ban is unlikely to take place next season, given Nice are languishing in seventh in the French top tier, some 13 points from a Champions League position.

Ceferin could relax UEFA rules

Speaking on Gary Neville’s ‘Overlap’ Youtube channel earlier this month, Ceferin said UEFA would explore whether to relax rules regarding multi-club ownership.

A change would represent a significant boost to Ratcliffe’s takeover prospects.

Ceferin said: “We are not thinking about Manchester United only.

“We've had five or six owners of clubs who want to buy another club. We have to see what to do.

“The options are that it stays like that or that we allow them to play in the same competition. I'm not sure yet.

“We have to speak about these regulations and see what to do about it. There is more and more interest in this multi-club ownership.

“We shouldn't just say no for the investments for multi-club ownership, but we have to see what kind of rules we set in that case because the rules have to be strict.

“From one point of view it's true if you are the owner of two clubs and they play in the same competition you can say to one club to lose because you want the other to win.

“But for you, as a football player, do you think it's so easy to do that, to tell a coach, lose the match because the other wants to win?”