`Drogheda United have confirmed that they have been told they face expulsion from the Europa Conference League - and that they now plan to take their fight to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The Boynesiders are set to be booted out under UEFA’s Article 5, ‘Integrity of the competition/multi-club ownership’, which stipulates that ‘No individual or legal entity may have control or influence over more than one club participating in a UEFA club competition’.

Drogheda’s owners, Trivela Group, earlier this year took a majority stake in Danish side Silkeborg IF.

They qualified earlier this month for the Conference League via the Danish play-off system.

United reacted to that development by confirming they were in “ongoing discussions” with UEFA over the potential issue, which could cost them a minimum of €525,000 in prize money.

And on Thursday afternoon they issued an update, signed by The Drogheda United Football Club Board.

It read: “The club can confirm that it has been notified by UEFA that we are facing expulsion from the UEFA Conference League due to Drogheda United and Silkeborg IF having both qualified for the same competition.

“This is despite significant efforts by the club to work constructively with UEFA to make necessary ownership and governance changes to allow both to compete over the past several months.

“We are devastated by this potential development and believe it would be both harsh and unfair, given the way brand new rule changes this year have been, in our view, inconsistently communicated and enforced across various clubs.

“We are now appealing the decision to the Court for Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Given we are now in the midst of an ongoing legal proceeding, and out of respect for that process, UEFA, the CFCB, and the overall aim of sporting integrity, there are limits to what we are able to share at this time.

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“What we can say is this: we are—even at this late hour—fighting to do anything and everything we can to secure our players’, supporters’, and community’s place in Europe.

“We have been in active dialogue with UEFA for months and have put forward a share disposition, trust arrangements, and various other undertakings consistent with recent CFCB precedent, only to have all of those efforts rebuffed.

“Nevertheless, we look forward to the opportunity to be heard at CAS and thank you in advance for your support.”

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