Uefa have added to the misery of Manchester United fans by stating that any debt imposed on the club by new owner Malcolm Glazer could affect their future participation in European competition.

Uefa's executive committee are expected to approve new, tougher licensing rules in September which are likely to come into force at the start of the 2007-08 season. If Manchester United are heavily in debt at the time their licence could be reviewed and, if it was revoked, they could be refused access to whichever Uefa competition they had qualified for, a spokesman for European soccer's governing body said.

Under present Uefa licensing regulations, a club can compete in continental competitions only if it is granted a licence by its national association. This is done automatically as long as the club does not owe money to other clubs on transfer deals or salaries to any of its employees whether backroom staff or players. The licensing rules are currently being revised by Uefa's lawyers who are expected to include new regulations regarding debts to banks.

"The idea is to make the regulations more progressive, but it will not be possible to impose a limit of say, 60m euros of debt across the board because there are so many differences in the finances of all clubs in Europe", announced a Uefa spokesman. "However, if one club was permanently in debt to the banks, and the debt showed no sign of clearing or in fact got bigger year by year, then we would look very closely at that situation and then the licence of that club would have to be reviewed."

Glazer took control of United yesterday after a £790m takeover offer. He has yet to spell out his financing plans but fans fear the takeover will load heavy debt on to the club and have voiced their extreme displeasure at the news of the American billionaire's takeover.