Champions League: RB Leipzig and Red Bull Salzburg both allowed to compete
Posted Wednesday, June 21, 2017 by BBC.com
Leipzig have won four promotions and a Champions League place in the past eight seasons
RB Leipzig and Red Bull Salzburg can both play in the Champions League next season, Uefa has confirmed.
Both clubs are associated with the energy-drink maker Red Bull and Uefa prohibits clubs with strong links from playing in Europe in the same season.
But Uefa ruled "no individual or legal entity had a decisive influence over more than one club".
Bundesliga runners-up RB Leipzig and Austrian champions Salzburg both qualified for the 2017-18 competition.
Leipzig were founded in 2009 with backing from the company and won four promotions in seven seasons, before finishing second in their first ever top-flight season.
Red Bull bought Austria Salzburg in 2005, renaming it, but following a restructuring it no longer has a controlling stake and merely sponsors the club.
Uefa does not allow any two clubs competing in European competition to share the same owner.
In cases where that happens, priority is given to a team who are champions of their country, meaning that Leipzig would have missed out.
But Uefa's Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) found there was no breach of Article 5 concerning the integrity of the competition.
The decision may be appealed against to the Court of Arbitration for Sport within 10 days.
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