Crystal Palace thrown out of Europa League as UEFA verdict announced

Crystal Palace have been relegated to the UEFA Conference League following a ruling. Palace qualified for the Europa League via their FA Cup triumph but concerns were raised over co-owner John Textor’s involvement. Palace have been demoted to the Conference LeagueAFP The American businessman, who has agreed a deal to sell his shares, also co-owns French side Lyon. Lyon were initially demoted to Ligue 2 amid financing issues but have won their appeal against relegation. They qualified for the Europa League via their sixth-place finish in Ligue 1, and a UEFA ruling has confirmed their spot. However, they have rejected Palace’s admission to the competition and they will now play in the Conference League instead. UEFA are yet to confirm if Nottingham Forest will take their spot and be promoted to the Europa League. UEFA statement The First Chamber of the UEFA Club Financial Control Body has concluded the proceedings on the multi-club ownership case involving Crystal Palace [ENG] and Olympique Lyonnais [FRA]. The CFCB First Chamber had opened proceedings against Crystal Palace and Olympique Lyonnais due to a potential conflict with the multi-club ownership rule provided for in Article 5 of the UEFA Club Competitions Regulations. On 9 July 2025, the appeal instance of the French financial control authority [DNCG] decided not to relegate Olympique Lyonnais to Ligue 2. Consequently, and following an assessment by the CFCB of all the other relevant conditions included in the settlement agreement, Olympique Lyonnais will not be excluded from the 2025/26 UEFA club competitions [see media release of 30 June 2025]. Consequently, the CFCB First Chamber pursued the assessment of the documentation submitted by Olympique Lyonnais and Crystal Palace and concluded that the clubs breached, as at 1 March 2025, the multi-club ownership criteria foreseen in Art 5.01 of the UEFA Club Competition Regulations. For this reason, and in accordance with the provisions set in Art. 5.02, 5.03 and 5.04 of the UEFA Club Competitions Regulations, the CFCB First Chamber decided: • To accept Olympique Lyonnais’ admission to the 2025/26 UEFA Europa League; and • To reject Crystal Palace’s admission to the 2025/26 UEFA Europa League and to accept Crystal Palace’s admission to the 2025/26 UEFA Conference League. The present decision may be appealed against before the Court of Arbitration for Sport, in accordance with Articles 62 and 63 of the UEFA Statutes. Forest are set to play in the competition but this won’t be confirmed until they discover if Palace appealing the decision. UEFA rules say: “Subject to Paragraph 4.05, a club that is not admitted to the competition is replaced by the next-best-placed club in the top domestic championship of the same association, provided the new club fulfils the admission criteria and the status of the competition allows such a replacement, safeguarding the sporting integrity of the competition. “In such case, the access of the relevant association is adjusted accordingly.” Forest wrote a letter to UEFA to express concerns over Palace playing in the Europa League amid Textor’s shares at the club. Forest believed they could fall foul of multi-club ownership rules. Palace are now set to compete in European club football’s third tierGetty UEFA regulations state no individual is permitted to ‘simultaneously be involved in any capacity’ for ‘more than one club participating in a UEFA club competition’. Textor appeared on talkSPORT on Thursday and admitted his fears of the outcome when they lifted the FA Cup at Wembley: “‘Oh s***’, is what I thought.” “I was very happy, but I felt the gravity of it,” he added. “And I was concerned on the same day holding the cup next to the Prince [William]. “It was a great, great moment. And I couldn’t have been happier, I couldn’t have been happier for the fans, but I was worried about what was coming there.” Textor also told talkSPORT that UEFA have received a document that says he has no influence on the management decisions at Palace. “The document that I signed when I signed onto the shares, says clearly, that I’m not entitled to have any say in management decisions. Palace won the FA Cup for the first time in their historyGetty “They’ve [UEFA] seen that document and I’ve sat there in the room and said, ‘OK, stop talking about the 25 per cent and using that argument because it’s below the UEFA threshold of 30 per cent.’ “My document says I have 0% vote so why would it be a problem?” When asked how much responsibility he will take if Palace were to be demoted to the Conference League, Textor said ‘we all do as owners’. “I’ll admit to not even thinking about the issue [prior to Palace winning the FA Cup]. Of course, I have to. But I also read the rule. “Everybody is talking about it like it is so obvious. If you have decisive influence then you may need to consider th

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Crystal Palace thrown out of Europa League as UEFA verdict announced

Crystal Palace have been relegated to the UEFA Conference League following a ruling.

Palace qualified for the Europa League via their FA Cup triumph but concerns were raised over co-owner John Textor’s involvement.

Palace have been demoted to the Conference League

The American businessman, who has agreed a deal to sell his shares, also co-owns French side Lyon.

Lyon were initially demoted to Ligue 2 amid financing issues but have won their appeal against relegation.

They qualified for the Europa League via their sixth-place finish in Ligue 1, and a UEFA ruling has confirmed their spot.

However, they have rejected Palace’s admission to the competition and they will now play in the Conference League instead.

UEFA are yet to confirm if Nottingham Forest will take their spot and be promoted to the Europa League.

UEFA statement

The First Chamber of the UEFA Club Financial Control Body has concluded the proceedings on the multi-club ownership case involving Crystal Palace [ENG] and Olympique Lyonnais [FRA].

The CFCB First Chamber had opened proceedings against Crystal Palace and Olympique Lyonnais due to a potential conflict with the multi-club ownership rule provided for in Article 5 of the UEFA Club Competitions Regulations.

On 9 July 2025, the appeal instance of the French financial control authority [DNCG] decided not to relegate Olympique Lyonnais to Ligue 2. Consequently, and following an assessment by the CFCB of all the other relevant conditions included in the settlement agreement, Olympique Lyonnais will not be excluded from the 2025/26 UEFA club competitions [see media release of 30 June 2025].

Consequently, the CFCB First Chamber pursued the assessment of the documentation submitted by Olympique Lyonnais and Crystal Palace and concluded that the clubs breached, as at 1 March 2025, the multi-club ownership criteria foreseen in Art 5.01 of the UEFA Club Competition Regulations.

For this reason, and in accordance with the provisions set in Art. 5.02, 5.03 and 5.04 of the UEFA Club Competitions Regulations, the CFCB First Chamber decided:

• To accept Olympique Lyonnais’ admission to the 2025/26 UEFA Europa League; and

• To reject Crystal Palace’s admission to the 2025/26 UEFA Europa League and to accept Crystal Palace’s admission to the 2025/26 UEFA Conference League.

The present decision may be appealed against before the Court of Arbitration for Sport, in accordance with Articles 62 and 63 of the UEFA Statutes.

Forest are set to play in the competition but this won’t be confirmed until they discover if Palace appealing the decision.

UEFA rules say: “Subject to Paragraph 4.05, a club that is not admitted to the competition is replaced by the next-best-placed club in the top domestic championship of the same association, provided the new club fulfils the admission criteria and the status of the competition allows such a replacement, safeguarding the sporting integrity of the competition.

“In such case, the access of the relevant association is adjusted accordingly.”

Forest wrote a letter to UEFA to express concerns over Palace playing in the Europa League amid Textor’s shares at the club.

Forest believed they could fall foul of multi-club ownership rules.

Palace are now set to compete in European club football’s third tier

UEFA regulations state no individual is permitted to ‘simultaneously be involved in any capacity’ for ‘more than one club participating in a UEFA club competition’.

Textor appeared on talkSPORT on Thursday and admitted his fears of the outcome when they lifted the FA Cup at Wembley: “‘Oh s***’, is what I thought.”

“I was very happy, but I felt the gravity of it,” he added. “And I was concerned on the same day holding the cup next to the Prince [William].

“It was a great, great moment. And I couldn’t have been happier, I couldn’t have been happier for the fans, but I was worried about what was coming there.”

Textor also told talkSPORT that UEFA have received a document that says he has no influence on the management decisions at Palace.

“The document that I signed when I signed onto the shares, says clearly, that I’m not entitled to have any say in management decisions.

Palace won the FA Cup for the first time in their history

“They’ve [UEFA] seen that document and I’ve sat there in the room and said, ‘OK, stop talking about the 25 per cent and using that argument because it’s below the UEFA threshold of 30 per cent.’

“My document says I have 0% vote so why would it be a problem?”

When asked how much responsibility he will take if Palace were to be demoted to the Conference League, Textor said ‘we all do as owners’.

“I’ll admit to not even thinking about the issue [prior to Palace winning the FA Cup]. Of course, I have to. But I also read the rule.

“Everybody is talking about it like it is so obvious. If you have decisive influence then you may need to consider this but I don’t and I didn’t.

“If I had decisive influence, then those Brazilian players that just beat PSG in the Club World Cup, half of them would be coming to Crystal Palace next year.

“But you don’t see one single player from our network of clubs, that’s made their way on to the Palace roster.

“That is the source of my frustration with the lack of collaboration we’ve been able to have with Crystal Palace.”