Drogheda United face exclusion from the UEFA Conference League after both they and Silkeborg IF, run by US company Trivela Group, failed to qualify for this season's competition.
The club was informed today that it could be suspended from the competition due to multi-club ownership rules.
According to UEFA regulations, “no natural or legal person has the right to control or influence more than one club participating in a UEFA club competition.”
In this situation, the club with the higher league position gets to stay in the competition. This is worrying, as for Drogheda, that club is Silkeborg IF.
In a statement released this afternoon, the club said the information came “despite the club's significant efforts to engage constructively with UEFA to make the necessary changes to the ownership and governance structure to enable both clubs to compete in the last few months.”
“We are deeply upset by the potential consequences and believe it would be both cruel and unfair given how we feel the new rule changes this year have been inconsistently communicated and implemented across clubs.
“We are currently appealing this decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Given that we are in the middle of a court case and out of respect for that process, UEFA, the CFCB and the overall goal of sporting integrity, we are currently limited in what we can say.
“We can say this: even at this late time, we continue to fight and do everything possible to ensure that our players, fans and society have a place in Europe.
“We have been in active dialogue with UEFA for several months and have proposed various measures such as share distribution, trust agreements and other initiatives in line with the recent CFCB precedent, but all of these efforts have been rejected.
“Nevertheless, we look forward to being heard at CAS and thank you in advance for your support.”
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
