Both AC Milan and Toulouse, two clubs owned by part Liverpool owners RedBird Capital Partners, have been granted permission to compete in European competition by UEFA.
AC Milan, purchased by RedBird in September last year in a £1.1bn deal, have qualified for the Champions League for this coming season but could find themselves dropping into the Europa League should they suffer an early exit, meaning the potential for a clash with French side Toulouse, owned by the New York firm since the summer of 2020, could be on the cards.
That possibility posed the risk of breaching UEFA’s rules around teams being unable to meet in the same competition if they were under the same ownership group. With Aston Villa’s owners also holding control in Portuguese side and Europa League qualifiers Vitoria Guimaraes, and Brighton & Hove Albion owner Tony Bloom holding ownership of both the Seagulls and Belgian side Union Saint Gilloise, both of whom qualified for the Europa League for this season, UEFA had to rule on a number of similar matters.
