Everton would find themselves behind AS Roma in UEFA’s rankings if the two were to end up in the same competition in future.
That’s according to journalist Marco Bellinazzo, speaking to Retesport, who believes the Italian side will take precedence down the line.
Everton and Roma are both owned by the Friedkin Group, who also own French side Cannes in an ever-expanding sport network run by the American group.
This week saw them create Pursuit Sport to manage the football clubs they own, which will be headed up by CEO Dave Beeston.
They will be the new parent company for all of their football groups, who will then be individually run by their own executive teams. The Friedkins and Beeston have insisted they are not creating a multi-club hierarchy where lower clubs feed into the higher clubs.
Instead, the model will be more akin to that run by Red Bull, where each club is it’s own entity. That has allowed them to compete in the same European competitions in recent years.
That issue has become prevalent over the last few weeks as Crystal Palace have been demoted from the Europa League to the Conference League due to John Textor’s shareholding creating a clash with Lyon.
They were demoted for being the ‘lesser’ of the two sides, and finishing lower than Lyon did in Ligue 1, and Bellinazzo insists it would be the same for Everton and Roma.
“The Friedkins, perhaps a little belatedly, have come to align themselves with an organisational line shared by other entrepreneurial entities that have stakes in or control of various sports clubs,” he said.
“They have created a holding company that can manage these clubs jointly, to more easily obtain the advantages for which so-called timeshare agreements are usually created today.
“In the case of the Friedkins, compared to what’s happening with City Group, I think the management of Roma and Everton is closer to models like Red Bull, so they will proceed on an equal footing in terms of development.
“Currently, the criterion for determining which team should be relegated to the lower UEFA competition based on a conflict of interest is the ranking. So, were it to happen today to Roma and Everton, the Giallorossi would be favoured, but I reiterate that UEFA and FIFA will have to address this issue with new rules in the coming months.”
