Man United could be banned from Champions League

They'll probably miss out on a top four spot anyway

Sir Jim Ratcliffe is poised to acquire a 25 per cent stake in the club for £1.3bn after the British billionaire fought off competition from Qatari businessman, Sheikh Jassim.

Ratcliffe also owns Ligue 1 side Nice who are currently second in the table, a point behind Paris Saint-Germain.

Ahead of next season's Champions League, clubs in France's top flight are set to be awarded three automatic spots and one play-off place, with the top five teams in the Premier League going straight into the Europe's premier competition.

But under UEFA's rules, if Nice and United were to both qualify for the Champions League, one would be banned from the competition

According to The Sun, the only way Man United and Nice can both play in the Champions League next season is if one seals an automatic spot and the other qualifies directly for the Conference League.

However, if both sides finish in an automatic qualification spot, the team that finished higher in their respective league would be the one that gets the place whereas the other will be banned from Europe entirely.

If both leagues' tables were to look how they did now come the end of the season there would be no issue.

With United sixth in the Premier League they'd qualify for the Europa League and Nice would play Champions League football.

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