Manchester City and Girona could face each other in next season's Champions League if City Football Group shares in the Spanish club are placed in a blind trust.
CFG holds a 47% stake in Girona as well as a majority stake in Manchester City.
That would have meant a conflict with UEFA’s rules on multi-club ownership, where a shareholding of 30% or more is deemed to be a decisive influence, and resulted in whichever team finishes lower in their domestic league being 'relegated' to the Europa League.
However, one option open to City and Girona – plus Manchester United and Nice if they both qualify for the Europa League – is to assign or transfer shares to an independent third party or blind trust.
This option will only be open to clubs on an exceptional basis in the 2024-25 season, thereafter UEFA’s Club Financial Control Body must be satisfied that a party does not have a decisive influence at more than one club in the same UEFA competition.
If CFG took up this option, there would be no barrier to City and Girona meeting in the Champions League group phase.
UEFA sources have highlighted that for the current season an independent trustee was chosen by American investment firm Redbird to oversee its stake in Toulouse, which allowed both the French club and Italian side AC Milan to compete in Europe. It is understood the CFCB was satisfied there has been no interference between the clubs during this season.
The first chamber of the CFCB wrote to clubs and leagues around Europe on Tuesday to make them aware of the blind trust option, but it is understood the clubs known to be impacted by the MCO rules were already aware.
Clubs must demonstrate compliance with the MCO rules, which were approved by UEFA’s executive committee on 20 March, by 3 June. It is understood the CFCB could give the green light to clubs, provided there are no significant complications, by the end of June.
The intention of the letter is also to clarify to European football stakeholders how the CFCB will interpret what constitutes "decisive influence" within a club.
The letter sent by the CFCB on Tuesday states: "The CFCB first chamber is aware that compliance with the MCO rule may necessitate the sale of shares in a club which may not be feasible considering the short time frame laid down in the new competition regulations.
"Such alternative shall consist in the transfer or the assignment of all its shares in a club to an independent third party, such as a blind trust, whereby all the decision-making of the club will solely rest under the control of the third party/trustee who will be bound by the fiduciary duty to act in the best interest of the club exclusively.
"It is understood that, in such cases, the CFCB first chamber will oversee the set-up of the independent structure to ensure it satisfies the MCO rule."
United’s football operations are now controlled by Ineos, which also owns a majority stake in French club Nice.
United co-owner Jim Ratcliffe, also the founder and chairman of Ineos, said in February: "We might have to change some things, but what UEFA recognises is that the multi-club model, in many circumstances, benefits the smaller club quite a lot. It says you have to change the ownership structure.
"So it’s all about influence and positions on the board and that sort of thing. So, a) the rules are changing, and, b) there are shades of grey, not black and white."
The CFCB letter sets out what it believes constitutes decisive influence. This includes influence through shareholder or members’ rights, through financial support, through governance or through player transfers.
Clubs subject to MCO proceedings before the CFCB will not be entitled to transfer, permanently or temporarily, any new players between each other, directly or indirectly via related parties, during the competition season nor during the first transfer window immediately thereafter.
