With yesterday’s positive news that Daniel Kretinsky is acquiring a portion of shares from Vanessa Gold to become the majority shareholder at West Ham, a number of supporters have queried the rules affecting multi club ownership.
This is quite common amongst football owners, and for the time being there are no immediate issues for West Ham United or Sparta Prague, yet in the future should both clubs qualify for the same European competition there does need to be a work around.
Kretinsky can remain involved with both West Ham and Sparta Prague even if they qualify for the same UEFA competition, but only by reducing or removing his influence at one of the clubs
How Kretinsky can retain ownership of two clubs without falling foul of UEFA’s rules
The most realistic mechanism is the blind trust model, which UEFA has already accepted in other multi‑club cases, most notably Manchester City / Girona and Nottingham Forest / Olympiacos.
UEFA’s Article 5 prohibits any individual from having “control or decisive influence” over two clubs in the same UEFA competition.
• Ownership stakes
• Board representation
• Veto rights or strategic influence
• Financial dependency
If West Ham and Sparta both reach, for example, the Europa League, UEFA would force one club to be barred unless Kretinsky can prove he no longer influences one of them.
This is where the blind trust solution comes in.
A blind trust means:
• Kretinsky retains ownership,
• But hands over all decision‑making power to an independent trustee,
• With no communication, no influence, no involvement in sporting or financial operations.
UEFA has accepted this structure multiple times because it removes “influence” without forcing a sale. UEFA cares about influence, not ownership percentage. If Kretinsky can demonstrate he has zero operational control at one club, both can compete.
Another European competition would require careful preparation by Kretinsky to comply with UEFA multi-club rules. Won’t that be a nice problem to have!
UEFA has already set precedents that directly apply to Kretinsky: Manchester City / Girona (City Football Group).
When both clubs qualified for Europe:
• CFG executives stepped back
• Independent trustees took over all decision‑making
• UEFA approved both clubs to compete
Nottingham Forest / Olympiacos (Evangelos Marinakis)
• Forest’s ownership structure was ring‑fenced
• Operational control was separated
• UEFA accepted the arrangement because influence was demonstrably split
Forest also used a trust‑based structure to satisfy regulators.
This is the clearest template for Kretinsky. Ultimately for West Ham this is a problem for another day however, for now it’s all hands on deck for the forthcoming season in the Championship.
Let’s hope he runs west ham better than the royal mail?
What, the same organisation that’s been failing for decades and he’s been in charge of for about 5 minutes ???
Perhaps he should start by getting rid of those not pulling their weight. Wiggins be many left though !
For the moment whatever sidelines Sullivan is fine for me.
Last sentence in article sums up what is most important.
There’s enough happening now not worry about what might happen in future years.
Just live for today.
Perhaps it could be argued he will not have control or decisive influence? If runmours are correct he will be the biggest shareholder, but with 43% he does not have full control or veto rights? Asking as I genuinely don’t know how this works
The statement yesterday specifically confirmed He and Vanessa Gold would be voting together to move the club forwards, meaning their share totals are approx 53% and can’t be over ruled.
Yeah I read that (here of course!), but will that “count” from a UEFA/Legal perspective. As V. Gold does not have (meaningful atleast) ownership in Sparta Prague?
On another note, if I understand correctly, DK will have 43% and if Gold for whatever reason votes against, he could ally with Tripp Smith (8% if I’m correct) to reach 51%? If the above is true, that is shrewd business by DK!
As I understand it a board member needs 75% of the shares to make decisions and not need other board members permissions. He needs to buy Sullys shares to achieve that. He’ll then be in overall control.
That might be correct, if it is a decision without involving other shareholders – but in any case he will have 53 with Vanessa Gold, So them together would win any vote (alleviating the need to make decisions without permission from Sullivan).