Girona’s fairy tale could completely be a nightmare for Man City in participating in the Champions League.

Manchester City – the team that won a historic treble in 2022/23 – is currently 5 points behind Liverpool in the Premier League. Time is still on the side of the Etihad Stadium team for an overthrow like many seasons ago, but missing out on the domestic championship could lead to more consequences than just disappointment for coach Pep Guardiola and his team. .

City Football Group also owns shares in the Spanish team Girona and they are currently ranked first in the Liga rankings. In case this team wins Spain’s highest tournament, European champion Man City may not be able to participate in the Champions League if they only get 2nd place in the Premier League. The reason is because UEFA stipulates that no team belonging to the same ownership group can participate in the tournament.

If two teams working under common ownership qualify for the same tournament, the team with the better record will qualify for the Champions League. Therefore, if Girona wins La Liga and Man City finishes as runner-up in the Premier League, Guardiola’s team will have to drop to the Europa League.

Man City may have to drop down to play the Europa League if the above situation occurs.

There was an opinion that Girona was forced to give up the La Liga championship to give a ticket to C1 to Man City but this was rejected. There are also examples of UEFA finding ways to circumvent ownership regulations, with RB Leipzig and FC Salzburg being allowed to play together in the Champions League despite being run by Red Bull Group.

This may also be the case of Man United’s neighbor, Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s INEOS group, which in addition to owning shares of the Old Trafford team, also owns Ligue 1 club Nice. In case Man United has a position lower than Nice, coach Erik Ten Hag’s team sitting at home watching the tournament is something that will happen.