Palace robbed of Europa League place by UEFA
Crystal Palace earned a spot in the UEFA Europa League by winning the FA Cup, but has been told it has to settle for a place in the UEFA Conference League after a landmark decision by UEFA.
Palace beat Manchester City 1-0 in the FA Cup final in May to earn its spot in the UEFA Europa League for the upcoming season.
Yet the Eagles have now been pushed down to UEFA's third-tier competition because of a multi-club ownership issue.
UEFA refuses to allow clubs that are owned or partly owned by the same owner to feature in the same competition during a season.
A UEFA statement read that its club financial control body had concluded that the multi-club ownership criteria had been breached and it had decided “to reject Crystal Palace’s admission to the 2025-2026 UEFA Europa League and to accept Crystal Palace’s admission to the 2025-2026 UEFA Conference League”.
John Textor owned shares in both Palace and Lyon, although the French giant had been relegated to Ligue 2 because of to financial discrepancies.
Lyon, though, won its appeal against that decision, and as it qualified for the UEFA Europa League via its league placing, it will remain in UEFA's secondary club tournament.
As such, it is Palace which has been demoted, although the club is expected to appeal the decision, claiming Textor, who is in the process of selling his stake in Palace, has no influence on the running of the south London club.
Textor sold his stake to New York Jets owner Woody Johnson, and has resigned from his leadership positions at Lyon. He said he was stunned by the decision.
"Honestly, I am stunned. We did everything possible to separate from the club, as UEFA would ask, with a sale process that began before the deadline, and a sale that will occur well before the draw," Textor said.
"Now we have sold out of a club that I love, to help Palace fans continue this dream year, only to have another off-the-pitch decision lay waste to an historic sporting victory."
Palace can still appeal the decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport but if UEFA's decision stands, the rules could allow Nottingham Forest to play in the Europa League if they fulfil the admission criteria.
UEFA's rules state that no club may hold or deal in securities or shares of any other club participating in its competitions and that no club can be a member of any other club participating those competitions.
Furthermore, no one person has the power to be simultaneously involved in management, administration and/or sporting performance of any club and they must not have any control or decisive influence over more than one club.
