Girona will be banned from participating in next season’s Champions League despite occupying one of the top four places in La Liga, The Times reported.
Girona is owned by Citigroup, which also owns Manchester City, while UEFA’s new rules stipulate that no more than one club owned by the same owner can participate in one European tournament.
Because of this rule, the Emirati company must choose between Girona or Manchester City to participate in the Champions League, and logically, it is the English club that will participate in the most important tournament.
As for Girona, despite its amazing success this season, it will be forced to participate in the European League, or the owner company will change its ownership.
In this way, Athletic Bilbao, which is in fifth place in La Liga, may participate in the Champions League, instead of Mitchell’s squad, which is currently in third place.
Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid will be the other three representatives of La Liga in the Champions League next season.
It is expected that Citigroup will try to find a solution to this crisis and initially talk about reducing the percentage of their shares in Girona, or transferring all their shares in one club to a trust fund supervised by a European Union committee, as is the case with Milan and Toulouse.
