Sir Jim Ratcliffe willing to ‘sacrifice’ OGC Nice control for Manchester United ambitions

Sir Jim Ratcliffe might have to surrender control of OGC Nice which has a possibility to come as a stumbling block for Manchester United if they qualify for the UEFA Champions League.

According to The Telegraph, Sir Jim Ratcliffe is willing to let go of his control of the French side in order to focus on United and he has already taken a back seat at Nice.

The ever-longing takeover of Manchester United by Sir Jim Ratcliffe was finally made official on Tuesday night. While everyone was busy celebrating the takeover, many raised a serious question.

Despite the Glazers Family owning the majority of stake in the club, Sir Jim Ratcliffe brought a 25 per cent stake along with sporting control of Manchester United, a club that he has supported since he was a kid.

UEFA Regulations and possible breaches

UEFA have strict rules around multi-club ownership model. These rules restrict same club owner to have “decisive influence” in both the clubs. So, if Manchester United as well as Nice qualify for the Champions League, then Sir Jim Ratcliffe relinquish influence from at least one of the clubs to ascertain that they are not breaching any UEFA regulations.

In the condition where there is decisive influence in multiple clubs qualifying for the Champions League, UEFA rules state that the club which finishes higher in the league table will be given the go ahead to compete in the Champions League.

Nice will be looking to compete in UEFA Champions League competition. They are sitting third in the Ligue 1 table at the time of writing. Nice have been owned by Sir Jim Ratcliffe since August 2019.

That means even if United finish fourth they cannot compete in the Champions League if Sir Jim Ratcliffe has control of both Nice as well as Manchester United.

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The fact that Ratcliffe is willing to relinquish control of the French side shows his dedication towards Man Utd. Let’s wait and see how it goes.