Crystal Palace are reportedly ‘very angry’ and ‘will appeal’ after it was confirmed that they have been ‘demoted’ from the Europa League.
Palace booked their place in next season’s Europa League by beating Manchester City in the 2024/25 FA Cup final.
However, their involvement in the competition has been in doubt for weeks due to UEFA’s multi-club ownership rules.
These regulations permit two clubs with the same owner from competing in the same competition, with Palace at risk due to John Textor‘s involvement with them and Lyon.
The American businessman, before recently agreeing to sell, owned a 43% stake in Palace, who argued that they were not in breach of UEFA’s rules as he did not hold a controlling stake, while he also had a prominent position at Lyon before resigning.
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Lyon finished sixth in Ligue Un in 24/25 to earn a spot in the Europa League, but were recently relegated to Ligue 2 amid financial turmoil.
This also saw Lyon lose their Europa League spot, but they have since been reinstated to Ligue Un and the European competition following an appeal.
It has subsequently been confirmed that Palace have been ‘demoted’ from the Europa League to the Conference League, while Lyon will compete in the former competition.
Nottingham Forest are due to take their place, but this outcome is the subject of an appeal from Palace.
A report from Sky Sports News says:
‘Sky Sports News understands the Eagles will lodge an appeal before the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
‘Nottingham Forest’s place has not been confirmed yet, with the CFCB waiting until the outcome of a CAS appeal before making any other changes.’
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Sky Sports reporter Kaveh Solhekol has provided a detailed breakdown of this situation and also indicated how it should progress in the coming weeks.
“First of all, I can tell you that Palace will be appealing to CAS. They are going to challenge this and are very angry about what UEFA have done – they feel they earned that place by right, by winning a trophy and beating Man City in the FA Cup final,” Solhekol said on Sky Sports.
“They won a major competition. The prize for that is the trophy and a place in the Europa League. UEFA have decided to demote them.
“Lyon, who finished sixth in the French first division and have enormous debts, around €400m, they will play in the Europa League. While Palace, who have never broken any FFP rules, have been demoted.
“The reason this has happened is down to John Textor. He owns a company called Eagles Football Holdings, they own Lyon and Botafogo and have shares in Palace.
“All along, Palace have been stressing he does not have decisive influence at the club.
“UEFA had to decide if having Palace and Lyon would damage the integrity of the competition.
“Most people would say it is totally ridiculous, there are few links, if any, between Lyon and Palace.
“Textor himself said yesterday that he has no influence. This is a bitter pill for Palace and their supporters to swallow.
“The way CAS works, their cases can be fast-tracked and I’m sure it will be. The draw for the Europa League is in August.”
He continued: “Textor is so frustrated. He has agreed to sell his stake in Palace to US businessman Woody Johnson for around £180m.
“UEFA are sticking to the letter of the law. Their rules say if one person or group have significant shares in two clubs in the same competition, that ownership needs to be sorted by the deadline of March 1.
“Palace and Textor missed that deadline. The reason they missed it was that they were not expecting to win the FA Cup.
“Textor also said he didn’t do it because he has no control at Palace.”
