The underlying rules are a lot more flexible. Red Bull in principle control both Salzburg and Leipzig, for example.
If QSI owns 49%, and King Something of Qatar owns the other 51% — it should not be a problem, as long as QSI is independent from Qatar (which is a requirement in itself, so we can assume that).
You could assign certain powers to an independent trust. You do that in some incentive schemes for tax reasons. A company sets up a trust and transfer shares to the trust while claiming that this result in them no longer controlling the shares. The trust has an administrator who has an assignment to handle the shares in the employees best interest. The administrator always does what the company asks in practice, in theory there might be situations were the trust couldn’t comply (if ordered to do something with the shares that clearly wasn’t in the employees at interest).
We would need to have more insight into UEFAs decision regarding Red Bull to speculate how far this can be taken. But ultimately the rule is supposed to ensure the integrity of the sport. To avoid a F1 situation were the driver of a team is ordered to let another driver of the same team past. In practice, this is not hard to achieve, nor really a risk.
Here is the rule:
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To ensure the integrity of the UEFA club competitions (i.e. UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Europa Conference League), the following criteria apply:
- No club participating in a UEFA club competition may, either directly or indirectly:
- hold or deal in the securities or shares of any other club participating in a UEFA club competition;
- be a member of any other club participating in a UEFA club competition;
- be involved in any capacity whatsoever in the management, administration and/or sporting performance of any other club participating in a UEFA club competition; or
- have any power whatsoever in the management, administration and/or sporting performance of any other club participating in a UEFA club competition.
- No one may simultaneously be involved, either directly or indirectly, in any capacity whatsoever in the management, administration and/or sporting performance of more than one club participating in a UEFA club competition.
- No individual or legal entity may have control or influence over more than one club participating in a UEFA club competition, such control or influence being defined in this context as:
- holding a majority of the shareholders’ voting rights;
- having the right to appoint or remove a majority of the members of the administrative, management or supervisory body of the club;
- being a shareholder and alone controlling a majority of the shareholders’ voting rights pursuant to an agreement entered into with other shareholders of the club; or
- being able to exercise by any means a decisive influence in the decision-making of the club