Crystal Palace appeal against Europa League demotion

The Court of Arbitration for Sport has heard a case against Crystal Palace’s removal from the Europa League.

The complaint centers on Premier League rivals Nottingham Forest, French club Lyon, and Uefa, which issued the punishment.

Because American businessman John Textor owns a stake in the club and is the majority owner of Lyon, who also qualified for the Europa League, the Eagles were punished for breaking multi-club ownership laws.

Palace have lodged a lawsuit asking for Forest or Lyon to replace Palace in the Europa League and for the financial control body to annul the decision.

The Europa League group stage will begin on September 24 and will be decided on August 11 or before that date.

According to the governing principles of European football, clubs that are owned by the same person or entity must have a certain level of influence before participating in the same European competition.

Palace missed the deadline of 1 March 2025, according to Uefa’s rules.

Textor is unlikely to have any significant impact on the club, according to Palace, but Uefa rejected the Premier League organization’s defense.

Steve Parish, chairman of Palace, expressed his “very hopeful” that the decision would be overturned in a podcast from The Rest is Football last week.

“We don’t believe that this is the wisest choice in any way,” the statement read. We are completely aware that John [Textor] did not have significant influence over the club, he asserted.

Collecting and competing in European competitions are subject to Uefa’s strict rules for multi-club ownership.

A club must demonstrate in the governing body’s rulebook that they are not “simultaneously involved in any capacity whatsoever in the management, administration, and/or sporting performance of more than one club participating in a Uefa club competition.”

Eagle Football, according to Textor, owns 43% of Palace and 77% of Lyon, but the Premier League team claims to operate entirely independently.

Forest requested clarification from Uefa in June regarding Palace’s position in Europe and what the club could gain from a promotion to the Conference League.

Evangelos Marinakis, owner of the Greek side Olympiakos, drained his control of the Premier League team to avoid rules governing multi-club ownership.

Textor agreed to sell his 43% stake to New York Jets owner Woody Johnson in June, but the deal has not yet been completed, helping Palace’s chances of playing in the Europa League.