Drogheda the losers as owner falls foul of Uefa rules on multi-club ownership

Drogheda United players celebrate after winning the FAI Cup Final at the Aviva Stadium on November 10th, 2024. Photograph: Bryan Keane/Inpho

Drogheda United qualified for the Uefa Conference League by winning the FAI Cup on November 10th. Eight days later, it was confirmed that their US owner, The Trivela Group, had taken an 80 per cent stake in Danish club Silkeborg IF.

On Tuesday, Drogheda were removed from next Tuesday’s Conference League qualifier draw as Uefa rules state that “no individual or legal entity” can control two teams competing in the same European competition.

Trivela missed the March 1st deadline to show that it does not control both Drogheda and Silkeborg (in fact, it does). This can be seen as an administrative failing, although Silkeborg only qualified for Europe last month.

Better to be safe than sorry. Evangelos Marinakis temporarily placed his majority shareholding of Nottingham Forest in a blind trust when his Greek club Olympiakos qualified for the Champions League.

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When Forest finished seventh in the Premier League, and only qualified for the Conference League, the shipping magnate magically reappeared at the City Ground.

Did he ever leave?

Another potential problem for Trivela’s founder Ben Boycott when his legal team appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Monday, are his comments from December 2024.

“Trivela is a very small group of like-minded investors,” said Boycott. “We don’t publish investor lists but we have a high degree of transparency in terms of you know who I am and I make the decisions. If you don’t like something Trivela do, you can blame me and not anyone else.

“The way it is structured, I make the decisions and we’re very cautious in terms of who gets admitted into that.”

Boycott is co-chairman of Drogheda, Silkeborg and English side Walsall.

Walsall co-chairman Leigh Pomlett and Walsall, Drogheda and Silkeborg co-chairman Ben Boycott. Photograph: Malcolm Couzens/Getty Images

There are so many unanswered questions: why is a Birmingham, Alabama-based investment house buying clubs in tiny soccer markets? How does it plan to turn a buck?

None of this makes sense.

On top of a hefty legal bill when they look to contest Uefa’s “expulsion” at CAS, Drogheda’s guaranteed prize money of €525,000 could be washed down the drain.

Trivela claims to have made “significant efforts to make necessary ownership and governance changes”.

“We have been in active dialogue with Uefa for months and have put forward a share disposition, trust arrangements, and various other undertakings consistent with recent CFCB [Club Financial Control Body] precedent, only to have all of those efforts rebuffed.”

[ Drogheda enjoy FAI Cup glory but still need happy ending to storyOpens in new window ]

What creates an embarrassing situation for Irish football as a whole is that Derry City did not apply for a Uefa licence after losing the cup final to Drogheda. That deadline has also passed. As it stands, Ireland will lose a lucrative fourth spot in European competitions when qualification begins on July 10th.

By the way, Silkeborg secured a place in Tuesday’s draw by finishing higher in their domestic league than Drogheda’s ninth place in last season’s League of Ireland.

The giants of the multi-club ecosystem – Red Bull, Ineos and the City Football Group – keep finding ways to bend the Uefa rules around multi-club ownership and having two clubs in the same competition.

Last season Manchester United and Manchester City made use of the “blind trust” paper trail, used for decades by British prime ministers to avoid the accusation of benefiting personally from decisions they have influence over. Back in 1997, Tony Blair set one up but it was subsequently revealed that his wife, Cherie, was directing what grew into a £27 million property empire.

Manchester United co-owner Ineos got away with not having operational control of its French club Nice, so both teams could feature in the 2025 Europa League.

Drogheda United's Luke Heeney and Adam Foley celebrate winning the 2024 FAI Cup Final at the Aviva Stadium. Photograph: Bryan Keane/Inpho

The Abu Dhabi-owned City Football Group was permitted to enter Manchester City and Girona in last season’s Champions League after Uefa was satisfied it had made “significant changes to the ownership, governance, and financial support” of the Spanish club.

Perhaps the most interesting stipulation by Uefa is that the clubs “will not use any joint scouting or player database” until July 1st, 2025.

And don’t forget that Red Bull Salzburg from Austria and German club RB Leipzig were cleared to participate in the 2017-18 Champions League, following changes to their governance structures.

If Drogheda can convince CAS that a similar situation exists, Trivela and Boycott would need to keep an even lower profile.

Officially, the Crystal Palace situation is unresolved but the UK media are widely reporting that American businessman John Textor does not, legally speaking, control Lyon and the FA Cup winners. Apparently, Palace missed the deadline to put Textor’s shares in a blind trust – sure, they had not won the FA Cup in March – but Uefa has been convinced that his 43 per cent stake does not come with a “decisive influence”.

Before the Drogheda situation, Ireland was sending four clubs into Europe next month.

Shelbourne are busy readying Tolka Park for the first round of Champions League qualification while Shamrock Rovers and St Patrick’s Athletic are aiming for the Conference League group stages.

That’s what makes the Drogheda scenario so frustrating. In Irish football, progress on the field seems to be continually damaged by administrative failings off it.

Or not. Over to CAS.

UP NEXT: The League returns from the international break with Rovers aiming to put 12 points between themselves and defending champions Shelbourne by winning Virgin Media’s live broadcast from Tolka Park. Elsewhere, second-placed Drogheda will seek to reduce Rovers’ six-point lead at the top with a result against St Pat’s at Richmond Park.

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