Could a Premier League club lose their European place once again?

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Could a Premier League club lose their European place once again?

As the battle for places in Europe hots up in the Premier League, the race to shuffle papers to satisfy Uefa's bureaucrats has been just as intense. This is because European football's governing body has strict multi-club ownership (MCO) rules. Half of the Premier League clubs are now in some form

Could a Premier League club lose their European place once again?

As the battle for places in Europe hots up in the Premier League, the race to shuffle papers to satisfy Uefa's bureaucrats has been just as intense. This is because European football's governing body has strict multi-club ownership (MCO) rules. Half of the Premier League clubs are now in some form of multi-club arrangement.

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As the battle for places in Europe hots up in the Premier League, the race to shuffle papers to satisfy Uefa's bureaucrats has been just as intense.

This is because European football's governing body has strict multi-club ownership (MCO) rules.

Those rules could cause a team to be demoted from one competition to another, like Crystal Palace were from the Europa League to the Conference League last season, or miss out on Europe altogether.

Half of the Premier League clubs are now in some form of multi-club arrangement.

Everton, Chelsea and Nottingham Forest all had their lawyers scrambling for a solution before Uefa's 1 March deadline.

Brighton, meanwhile, will hope the action they took three years ago still meets requirements.

Clubs have been locked in talks with Uefa to make sure they have got their house in order.

Uefa says sporting integrity is of "fundamental importance" and that it must be "undisputable", and that two teams who are very closely linked should not play in the same competition.

This includes, but is not limited to, the total shareholding and voting rights - 30% generally being the trigger.

Just as important is the test of decisive influence - directors or staff members who are involved in key decisions.

If Uefa's Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) rules that there is a conflict, then one club must be removed.

Priority is given to the team in the higher-ranked competition - this could apply if one team is in, say, Champions League qualifying and could drop into the Europa League.

Finally, Uefa coefficient - which the Premier League sits top of.

After years of allowing clubs to register solutions after they had qualified, last season Uefa brought forward its compliance date to 1 March - and it caught out three teams.

Palace, Irish club Drogheda United and Slovak outfit FC DAC 1904 became the first to face punishment under the MCO regulations.

All three took their cases to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas), and lost.

In December, Uefa sent a fresh circular underlining that 1 March is still "a strict deadline for compliance", citing the rulings made by Cas.

This led to the flurry of activity across several clubs at the end of February.

The link between Everton and Roma is not too well known, but it could yet be the most compelling story.

The Toffees are 11th in the Premier League, but only three points off sixth. As it stands, sixth earns Europa League football.

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