If Everton and AS Roma qualify for the same European competition this season, The Friedkin Group will be required to place one of the clubs into a so-called ‘blind trust’.
Dan Friedkin will probably file that under ‘nice problem to have’.
We’re approaching the anniversary of his takeover of Everton. This time last year, when the Californian billionaire first pitched up on Merseyside, the prospect of European football was virtually inconceivable.
The Toffees were two points above the relegation zone at Christmas in 2024. Fast forward 12 months and victory over a stuttering Chelsea on Saturday could hoist David Moyes’ side into the top four.
How do you feel about Everton being part of a multi-club network?
Toffees' links to Roma and AS Cannes could be problematic – but there are benefits too
Discussion point creative showing clubs owned by The Friedkin Group worldwide
The Friedkin Group multi-club network Credit: Massimo Insabato/Archivio Massimo Insabato/Mondadori Portfolio/Getty Images
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Whether Everton can sustain this sort of form in the second half of the season may depend on how lavish Friedkin and his co-investors are feeling ahead of the January transfer window.
A centre-forward is seemingly top of Moyes and Nick Hammond’s Christmas wish list. And you don’t get much change from £30-40m for a Premier League-ready goalscorer these days.
The first year of the Friedkin era bodes well. While they aren’t investing out of altruism (they expect a huge return one day), the owners have certainly not been spendthrift.
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The group – which includes several as-yet undisclosed investors alongside the Friedkin family, Chris Sarofim and Jason Kidd – has injected about £208m in cash since the takeover.
Even more significantly, they have drastically reduced the club’s short-term debt burden by repackaging several high-interest loans into a more favourable, long-term deal with JP Morgan Chase worth £350m.
Dan Friedkin and Ryan Friedkin, co-owners of Everton, attend AS Roma match in directors' box
Photo by Massimo Insabato/Archivio Massimo Insabato/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images
That frees up more short-term cash and, as well as allowing Everton to realise the full financial benefits of the Hill Dickinson Stadium, should make further investment in the transfer and wage markets feasible.
Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) meanwhile are in their death throes, soon to be replaced by a Squad Cost Ratio (SCR) system that, in the long run, should favour clubs like Everton.
So while they cannot simply spend with impunity in January, their anxieties around the spending rules have been greatly eased.
But if the right reinforcements arrive and the club is in the top third of the table or thereabouts come May, Everton’s relationship with Roma will be under the spotlight.
UEFA set 1 March cut-off for multi-club networks like The Friedkin Group to separate their teams
Before The Friedkin Group emerged, Farhad Moshiri held talks with umpteen prospective bidders for Everton.
Three of the would-be buyers with whom Moshiri entered into respective periods of exclusivity were MSP Sports Capital, 777 Partners and John Textor of Eagle Football fame.
The common denominator? MSP, 777 and Eagle are all multi-club organisations.
And in Textor – whose failure to divest in Crystal Palace in time for them to compete in the Europa League at the same time as Eagle-owned Lyon was one of the stories of the summer – Everton have a what-not-to-do manual.
As well as Everton, The Friedkin Group owns AS Roma and AS Cannes.
The latter competes in the fourth division of French football, so there is unlikely to be a conflict of interest there, but there is a reasonable chance that Roma and Everton will one day qualify for the same competition, which UEFA does not allow unless it receives certain assurances.
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Roma won the Europa Conference League in 2022. If Everton maintain their current 7th-place position in the Premier League, they would likely find themselves in that competition, which would guarantee extra revenue of £10m (TV money and matchday income) as a minimum baseline. That sum would increase exponentially if Everton were to qualify for either the Europa League or, one day, the Champions League.
But if Roma are there too, The Friedkin Group would be required to place either Everton or Roma in a legally-binding blind trust, effectively handing over day-to-day control to a third party for the season.
And in the latest news, UEFA have now written to clubs confirming that they will maintain their stance on multi-club ownership for next season, meaning teams must organise blind trust arrangements before 1 March in order to avoid the risk of being booted out of European competition in 2026-27.
Expect Everton to file their paperwork well in advance of that date.
AS Roma fans hold scarves aloft
Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images
Even if there is only an outside chance of European football next season, the Crystal Palace saga in the summer proved that owners cannot afford to play fast and loose with UEFA’s rules.
Incidentally, while Friedkin will not be able to rewire European football’s governing body’s rules for next season, he will be able to exert some long-term influence through his position with the European Football Clubs organisation.
European Football Clubs, formerly the European Club Association, is the most powerful lobbying group for clubs on the continent.
Friedkin is one of the organisation’s 11 board members and one of only three who represent a multi-club interest.
How would UEFA decide between Everton and Roma?
Should both Roma and Everton qualify for the same competition, whoever finishes higher in their respective domestic league will get the spot in the UEFA competition.
If the two Friedkin-owned clubs finish in, say, 7th place, Everton would qualify ahead of Roma because of England’s superior club coefficient association ranking.
Every Premier League multi-club link
Club Shareholder Other clubs owned
Arsenal Stan Kroenke / Kroenke Sports & Entertainment Colorado Rapids
Aston Villa V Sports Vitória S.C.
Bournemouth Black Knight Football & Entertainment FC Lorient, Auckland FC, Hibernian FC
Brighton & Hove Albion Tony Bloom Royale Union Saint-Gilloise
Brentford Best Intentions Analytics Mérida AD
Chelsea BlueCo (Todd Boehly & Clearlake Capital) RC Strasbourg
Crystal Palace Josh Harris & David Blitzer FC Augsburg, Real Salt Lake, ADO Den Haag, Waasland-Beveren, Brondby
Everton Friedkin Group AS Roma, AS Cannes
Leeds United 49ers Enterprises Rangers
Manchester City City Football Group New York City FC, Melbourne City, Girona FC, Yokohama F. Marinos, Mumbai City FC, Montevideo City Torque, Lommel SK, Troyes AC, Palermo FC, EC Bahia
Manchester United INEOS (Sir Jim Ratcliffe) OGC Nice, FC Lausanne-Sport, RC Abidjan
Newcastle United Public Investment Fund (Saudi Arabia) Al-Nassr, Al-Hilal, Al-Ahli, Al-Ittihad
Nottingham Forest Evangelos Marinakis Olympiacos, Rio Ave
Burnley ALK Capital Espanyol
West Ham United Daniel Křetínský Sparta Prague
However, there is a fair chance that the team that finishes in 6th in Serie A will qualify for the Conference League, whereas 7th place will probably be enough in the Premier League. In that eventuality, Roma qualify ahead of Everton.
Roma finished 5th in Serie A last season and, after defeat against Cagliari last Saturday, they are 4th in the league as things stand.
What is happening with Pursuit Sports, Everton’s supposed new multi-club umbrella company?
In July, The Friedkin Group launched Pursuit Sports, a new company which they said would house their football teams in a single ownership vehicle.
Dave Beeston, a former executive at Liverpool and Chelsea owners Fenway Sports Group and Clearlake Capital respectively, was hired to oversee the operation.
Decision-making, it was said, would remain separated between clubs. Instead, it appeared that the idea was to share resources and scale the clubs commercially through, for example, shared sponsorship deals.
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Everton News - Discussion Points creative - Commercial income
Everton News – Discussion Points creative – Commercial income Credit: Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images
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However, there has been no word on what is happening at Pursuit Sports. So what’s the hold-up? And while The Friedkin Group insist there will be no hierarchy of clubs, is that realistic?
“You need continuity and consistency between the clubs,” says University of Liverpool football finance lecturer Kieran Maguire, speaking exclusively to Everton News.
“You also need an acknowledgement that there is going to be a mothership, if indeed there is. If you look at the relationship between Chelsea and Strasbourg, for example, it’s clear.
“But it has to be sold as a win-win deal. The biggest issue is going to be persuading fans of other clubs that there is an advantage to being a satellite club.
“Equally, there is a different type of multi-club model where there is less movement between clubs, such as City Football Group in recent times.
A general view of Everton's Hill Dickinson Stadium
Photo by Matt McNulty/Getty Images
“But at City, it is looked at more in terms of revenue synergies and knowledge sharing. Perhaps that’s the approach that Everton will eventually be going for.
“You can also see a lot of multi-clubs offering suppliers and sponsors the chance to partner with two or three clubs rather than one these days and potentially increasing revenue that way.”
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