Athletic: Chelsea’s loan and transfer project could take a serious hit depending on results in France | OneFootball

Chelsea and Chelsea fans are delighted to see their sister club Strasbourg doing well.

They’ve had an almost mirror season to the Blues – they struggled in the Autumn when we were blowing teams away, but as our form tailed off post Christmas they really came into their own, with just one defeat since the turn of the year. They’ve won 33 of the last 42 points available, and have rocketed up the table to 6th, just 4 points off second place.

As brilliant as that is, it’s also possible it will create some headaches.

Chelsea are one step closer to the Champions League places after a win against Spurs on Thursday night, but Strasbourg are themselves making a heroic charge towards Europe’s top competition. If both sides make it, things get complicated, as Simon Johnson laid out in his explainer for the Athletic.

UEFA rules forbid two clubs owned by the same owners playing in the same competition. If they both qualify for the Champions League, one team would have to drop into the Europa League. If both qualify for the Europa League, one would have to drop into the Conference League. If they both end up in the Conference League… well, one would have to not play in Europe at all.

Imperfect solution would affect Chelsea’s multi-club purpose

Chelsea and Strasbourg logo in a montage.

The way around this is putting ownership of one club into a “blind trust” for the course of next season. According to Johnson, “contingency planning has been ongoing for some time, and things are in place.”

Transfers and loans between the two entities would be restricted – which would damage the whole rationale for a multi-club model in the first place. Strasbourg’s success this season is in part down to the players Chelsea have helped them buy and loaned them, while Chelsea have seen players like Andrey Santos and Djordje Petrovic thriving there.