2 weeks ago
Uefa’s caput of women’s shot has said rules prohibiting clubs pinch nan aforesaid proprietor from playing together successful nan Women’s Champions League will beryllium strictly enforced, dealing a rustle to investors specified arsenic Michele Kang.
Kang owns 1 of Saturday’s Women’s Champions League finalists, OL Lyonnes, and London City Lionesses, who person large ambitions and whose caput coach, Eder Maestre, past week stated their desire to compete for nan Women’s Super League title adjacent season.
Workarounds person been recovered successful men’s European competitions but Nadine Kessler said nary exceptions would beryllium made successful nan women’s game, contempt nan growing number of multi-club ownership groups.
“There is an improvement of multi-club owners successful women’s shot and they put a batch into nan game, which is important,” Kessler, Uefa’s women’s shot director, said. “But astatine nan aforesaid time, erstwhile it comes to playing successful 1 shot competition, location will beryllium nary different attack and nary exceptions erstwhile it comes to nan women’s game, and this is being intimately monitored.”
Kang, who besides owns nan US broadside Washington Spirit, is not unsocial successful operating aggregate beardown clubs successful Europe. Crux Sports, founded by nan erstwhile New Zealand skipper Bex Smith, owns nan grounds 14-time Swedish champions Rosengård, who person been Champions League quarter-finalists six times since 2012, and Montpellier, who were Champions League quarter-finalists successful 2018 and European semi-finalists successful 2006.
Another multi-club group pinch much than 1 top-flight European squad is Mercury13, which owns nan Serie A nine FC Como Women, nan Spanish top-flight broadside FC Badalona Women and nan WSL2 nine Bristol City.
Kessler said: “Why would we want to sphere nan sporting integrity of men’s football, but not of women’s football? It’s retired of [the] question. I deliberation successful immoderate sport, you want to sphere sporting integrity. That’s nan astir important thing.
“We each [try to] deliberation of smart ways of doing this, we each deliberation of smart ways of sharing resources and different things, and I’m judge these owners do a batch too. But successful nan end, erstwhile it comes to what’s happening connected nan pitch, our occupation arsenic nan title organisers, of course, is to make judge that everything is 100% adjacent and that location is not moreover a perceived breach of integrity”
Article 5 of Uefa’s Women’s Champions League regulations authorities that cipher tin “be progressive successful immoderate capacity whatsoever”, nor person “any powerfulness whatsoever” successful nan “management, management and/or sporting performance” of much than 1 nine participating. It besides prohibits anyone from “being capable to workout by immoderate intends a decisive power successful nan decision-making” of much than 1 club, nor being a mostly shareholder of, nor having nan correct to name aliases region group successful complaint of much than 1 club.
Kessler was speaking earlier Saturday’s last successful Olso, betwixt Lyonnes, nan grounds eight-time champions, and Barcelona. The erstwhile Fifa world subordinate of nan twelvemonth said nan crippled was successful statement to beryllium a sellout “in nan motherland of women’s football”
