Could Everton and Roma's link cause European issues?

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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.

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.

In Serie A, Roma are level on points with fifth-placed Como, which would also come with a spot in the Europa League.

The two clubs are owned by the Friedkin Group through subsidiary entities.

Everton are controlled by Roundhouse Capital Holdings Limited, and Roma under Romulus and Remus Investments.

The two people with significant control in Roundhouse Capital Holdings are Analaura Moreira-Dunkel and Marcus Watts - high-ranking officials in the Friedkin Group.

They are also on the Everton board and were associated with Roma in the years immediately after the takeover but no longer have an identifiable role at the Italian club.

Everton's issue could be that US billionaire Dan Friedkin is both their chairman and president of Roma. Friedkin is also the 'person of significant control' at Pursuit Sports UK, an umbrella group for sports operations.

Uefa's definition of "control", "decisive influence" and "shared decision-making" is broad.

Everton will have to prove there is no risk or appearance of involvement by Friedkin in both clubs.

The club are confident that they have a solution, but are not saying what that is.

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