Uefa's head of women's football has declared that rules prohibiting clubs with the same owner from competing together in the Women's Champions League will be rigorously enforced, delivering a setback to investors such as Michele Kang.
Strict Enforcement of Ownership Rules
Nadine Kessler, Uefa's women's football director, stated that no exceptions will be made in the women's game, even though workarounds have been found in men's European competitions. "There is an evolution of multi-club owners in women's football and they invest a lot into the game, which is important," Kessler said. "But at the same time, when it comes to playing in one football competition, there will be no different approach and no exceptions when it comes to the women's game. This is being closely monitored."
Kang owns OL Lyonnes, who face Barcelona in Saturday's Women's Champions League final, as well as London City Lionesses, whose head coach Eder Maestre recently expressed their ambition to compete for the Women's Super League title next season. Kang also holds ownership of the US side Washington Spirit.
Other Multi-Club Owners in Women's Football
Kang is not the only investor operating multiple strong clubs in Europe. Crux Sports, founded by former New Zealand captain Bex Smith, owns Rosengård, the 14-time Swedish champions who have been Champions League quarter-finalists six times since 2012, and Montpellier, who reached the Champions League quarter-finals in 2018 and the European semi-finals in 2006.
Another multi-club group with more than one top-flight European team is Mercury13, which owns Serie A club Como Women, Spanish top-flight side Badalona Women, and WSL2 club Bristol City.
Preserving Sporting Integrity
Kessler emphasised the importance of maintaining fairness in the competition. "Why would we want to preserve the sporting integrity of men's football, but not of women's football? It's out of the question. In any sport, you want to preserve sporting integrity. That's the most important thing," she said.
"We all try to think of smart ways of doing this, we all think of smart ways of sharing resources and other things, and I'm sure these owners do a lot too. But when it comes to what's happening on the pitch, our job as the competition organisers is to make sure everything is 100% fair and there is not even a perceived breach of integrity."
Uefa Regulations
Article 5 of Uefa's Women's Champions League regulations states that no person can "be involved in any capacity whatsoever" nor have "any power whatsoever" in the "management, administration and/or sporting performance" of more than one club participating. It also prohibits anyone from "being able to exercise by any means a decisive influence in the decision-making" of more than one club, nor being a majority shareholder of, nor having the right to appoint or remove people in charge of more than one club.
Kessler was speaking ahead of Saturday's final in Oslo between Lyonnes, the record eight-time champions, and Barcelona. The former Fifa world player of the year noted that the game is expected to be a sellout "in the motherland of women's football."
