Drogheda to take European expulsion to CAS
League of Ireland football club Drogheda United is to bring an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) after being told that it is facing expulsion from the 2025/26 UEFA Conference League.
The club had qualified for the competition by winning the FAI Cup last season, but Danish club Silkeborg IF also qualified for the competition due to their league placing.
Both clubs are owned by the Trivela Group and, under UEFA rules on multi-club ownership, two teams under the same ownership cannot play in the same competition, with the spot going to the club that had the highest league position.
Efforts ‘rebuffed’
In a statement, Drogheda United said that the UEFA ruling had come “despite significant efforts by the club to work constructively with UEFA to make necessary ownership and governance changes to allow both to compete over the past several months”.
It said that it had been talking to UEFA for months and had put forward a share disposition, trust arrangements, and “other undertakings consistent with recent CFCB precedent, only to have all of those efforts rebuffed”.
“We are devastated by this potential development and believe it would be both harsh and unfair, given the way brand new rule changes this year have been, in our view, inconsistently communicated and enforced across various clubs,” it added.
The club said that there were limits to what it could share at the moment as it was now in the middle of legal proceedings.
Crystal Palace await decision
UEFA’s (CFCB) decides each season on cases linked to eligibility for the UEFA club competitions.
English FA Cup winners Crystal Palace are also awaiting a decision about their participation in the Europa League, as they share a significant shareholder with French club Lyon, who have also qualified.
Last season, the CFCB cleared Manchester City and Girona to play in the Champions League after investors in both clubs made changes to bring them into line with UEFA rules. Manchester United and OGC Nice were cleared after taking similar action.
The UEFA rules on multi-club ownership provide that:
- No one is simultaneously involved, directly or indirectly, in any capacity whatsoever in the management, administration and/or sporting performance of more than one club participating in a UEFA club competition, and
- No one has control or decisive influence over more than one club participating in a UEFA club competition.