DAC Becomes Second Club Excluded from European Competition Over Multi-Club Ownership Issues

UEFA has delivered disappointing news to Slovak fans as they kick off the new week. In a move aimed at preserving the integrity of their club competitions and enforcing fair play, UEFA has announced the exclusion of DAC Dunajska Streda from the UEFA Conference League. This information was reported by sport.sk after UEFA communicated their decision.

The club’s expulsion stems from the fact that Oszkar Vilagi, the owner of DAC from Žitný Ostrov, also owns the Hungarian club ETO FC Győr, which also qualified for the Conference League. Although both clubs finished fourth in their respective leagues, Hungary holds a higher position in UEFA’s five-year country coefficient ranking.

DAC was set to participate in the second qualifying round of UEFA’s third-tier club competition. They were due to face the winner of the first qualifying round clash between Armenia’s Urartu and Belarus’ Neman Grodno. However, the winner of this matchup will now receive a bye to the third qualifying round.

“After evaluating the documentation provided by the clubs, the first Chamber of the Financial Control Authority of UEFA Clubs determined that FC ETO Győr and FC DAC 1904 Dunajska Streda had violated the multiple ownership rule laid out in Article 5.01 of UEFA’s club competition regulations, effective as of 1 March 2025,” UEFA stated on their website.

As a result, Slovak football will only have three representatives in European club competitions for the 2025/2026 season. Slovan Bratislava, having claimed the title once more, will enter the Champions League’s second qualifying round. Spartak Trnava will take on Swedish Cup winners BK Häcken in the Europa League’s first qualifying round, and MSK Žilina will compete in the second qualifying round of the Conference League against Raków Częstochowa.