Crystal Palace: Premier League side stripped of place in next season's UEFA Europa League over multi-club ownership rules
Updated 11/07/2025 at 20:52 GMT+1
Crystal Palace have been stripped of their place in next season's UEFA Europa League. The Eagles will now compete in the UEFA Conference League instead after being found to have breached Article 5.01 of the UEFA Club Competition Regulations. Palace qualified for the Europa League after beating Manchester City 1-0 in the FA Cup final earlier this year.
Oliver Glasner
Image credit: Getty Images
Crystal Palace have been stripped of their place in the UEFA Europa League after they were judged to be in breach of their multi-club ownership rules.
The Eagles will instead play in the UEFA Conference League.
UEFA believes that Palace are in breach of Article 5.01 of the UEFA Club Competition Regulations, which aims to prevent a single person or entity from having an interest in multiple clubs competing in the same competition.
Eagle Football Holdings - owned by John Textor - has a stake in both Crystal Palace and French club Lyon, who also qualified for the competition.
However, the American billionaire has previously insisted that he does not have any significant influence on decisions made at Selhurst Park.
UEFA initially set a deadline of March 1, 2025, for clubs to prove that they have restructured their multi-club ownership model, but Palace missed it.
Lyon take precedence over Palace for a place in the Europa League because they finished higher in Ligue 1 than Oliver Glasner's side managed in the Premier League.
The Eagles qualified for the Europa League after beating Manchester City 1-0 in the FA Cup final, while Lyon finished sixth in the French top flight.
Palace do have the option to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport as laid out in the statement.
"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," read a statement from UEFA.
"On July 9, 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.
- Why Rennes is a talent factory for the Ballon d'Or
- Mbeumo tells Brentford he only wants Man Utd - Paper Round
- Can ‘unplayable’ Madueke succeed at Arsenal? The numbers behind Gunners' surprise summer target
"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 March 1, 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."
Nottingham Forest would move into the Europa League should the ruling out.
'Devastated' Parish on 'most ridiculous technicality'
Crystal Palace co-owner Steve Parish gave his views on the situation following Palace's demotion to the Conference League and did not hold back.
"Obviously, we’re devastated," he told Sky Sports. "We’re devastated, most importantly, for the supporters. I think it’s something the supporters of all clubs should be devastated for us because this is the dream.
"You win a cup, win something for the first time in your history. Someone said to me, ‘It’s like winning the lottery and going to the counter and you don’t get the prize'.
"I'm devastated for the players, the fans, the staff, and I think it’s a bad day for football.
"Most football fans, right-minded football fans, will see what an injustice, a terrible injustice, this is. And one I ideally hope someone can remedy, because I do believe that nobody in football wants to see this.
"And I don’t think UEFA want to see this. Clubs who rightfully qualify for a competition, being locked out of the competition on the most ridiculous technicality you could imagine."
Parish also revealed that the club plans on appealing.
"We will appeal, I don't want to pre-judge that," he said. "I say we'll appeal, we're looking at all the options at the moment and that is obviously one option.
"What we'd prefer is if somebody intervened in this process. We believe it's possible for [Aleksander] Ceferin or somebody to do that."
---
Stream the Premier League, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Conference League and more on TNT Sports and discovery+
Related Topics
Thoughts?
Advertisement
Advertisement