Crystal Palace have been demoted from the Europa League and will now play in the Conference League next season after a UEFA ruling.
Sky Sports News understands Palace will appeal this decision via the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
As FA Cup winners, the Eagles won a spot in the Europa League for the 2025/26 campaign. However, that was brought into question with French club Lyon finishing sixth in Ligue 1 and earning their own Europa League spot.
John Textor owned shares in both clubs and under UEFA’s multi-club ownership rules, clubs with the same ownership group cannot play in the same competition. Any conflicts of interest for next season had to be sorted by March 1.
Textor – who Palace argue did not have overall control of the club – sold his 43 per cent stake in Crystal Palace to New York Jets owner Woody Johnson – albeit after the March 1 deadline.
He then resigned from his leadership roles at Lyon when they were relegated to Ligue 2 after failing to convince authorities they have resolved their financial difficulties. This appeared to pave the way for Palace’s Europa League participation.
However, there was further uncertainty on Wednesday when Lyon won their appeal against their relegation and were reinstated to Ligue 1 – meaning they are able to take up their Europa League spot.
On Friday, it was confirmed by UEFA that Palace will move down a competition.
UEFA regulation 4.10 states Palace’s place should be taken by the next-best-placed club in the Premier League, which would be Nottingham Forest.
However, Sky Sports News understands Forest’s place has not yet been confirmed, with UEFA’s Club Financial Control Body waiting until the outcome of the CAS appeal.
Analysis: A bitter pill for Palace to swallow
Sky Sports News chief correspondent Kaveh Solhekol:
“Palace 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 Manchester City in the FA Cup final.
“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.
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“Lyon, who finished sixth in the French first division and have enormous debts – around €400m – will play in the Europa League. 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 Eagle 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 [Thursday] 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.”
A timeline – why Palace have been demoted
March 1: UEFA’s deadline passes for clubs in multi-club groups to change their ownership structure.
At that point, Crystal Palace were 12th in the Premier League and in the FA Cup fifth round – a competition that still had Manchester City, Newcastle, Manchester United, Brighton, Nottingham Forest and Fulham in it.
April 30: It is revealed Evangelos Marinakis has removed himself from control of Nottingham Forest, putting his shares into a blind trust when it looked like Forest would qualify for the Champions League alongside Olympiakos, also owned by the Greek billionaire.
May 17: Crystal Palace win the FA Cup by beating Manchester City 1-0, thereby qualifying for the Europa League.
On the same day, Lyon qualify for the Europa League on the final day of the Ligue 1 season. However, Lyon face the prospect of UEFA sanctions for failing to meet spending rules.
May 25: Forest fail to qualify for the Champions League on the final day of the Premier League season but reach the Conference League instead, so Marinakis takes back control of the club.
June 3: UEFA meet with Palace executives in Switzerland to discuss whether the Eagles are able to play in Europe next season. John Textor and Steve Parish attend the meeting to fight Palace’s case.
June 9: It is revealed Forest have written to UEFA warning that Palace could be in breach of UEFA’s multi-club ownership rules.
June 25: It is announced that Lyon have been relegated from Ligue 1 after failing to convince authorities they have resolved their financial difficulties. The French club immediately say they will appeal the decision.
July 9: Lyon’s appeal is upheld, meaning they are reinstated to Ligue 1 and their spot in the Europa League is confirmed – bringing back doubt about Palace’s Europa League spot.
July 11: Palace’s demotion to the Conference League is announced by UEFA, with the Eagles saying they will appeal the decision.
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