Crystal Palace's Europa League dream over after CAS upholds UEFA decision, Nottingham Forest take place as The Eagles drop into Conference League

Crystal Palace have been demoted to the UEFA Conference League after losing their appeal against a UEFA ruling over multi-club ownership. The Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld the decision that former director John Textor’s links to Lyon were non-compliant with the European body's regulations. Nottingham Forest will therefore take Palace's place in the Europa League in the 2025/26 campaign.

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Crystal Palace's demotion to the UEFA Conference League has been confirmed after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) upheld UEFA's decision to remove them from the Europa League over a breach of multi-club ownership rules.

Nottingham Forest take Palace's place in Europe’s secondary competition, while Oliver Glasner's side will face Fredrikstad or Midtjylland in a Conference League play-off later this month.

The decision dulls the shine on a historic weekend for The Eagles, who beat Liverpool on penalties on Sunday to win the Community Shield for the first time. Palace initially qualified for the Europa League by winning last season's FA Cup with victory over Manchester City in the final.

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CAS said in a statement issued on Monday that the in-person hearing took place on Friday, August 8 in front of a three-person panel, and confirmed it had dismissed Palace's appeal which sought to annul UEFA's decision and "requested re-admission to the UEFA Europa League with Nottingham Forest or OL’s admission rejected".

Palace’s demotion in July followed UEFA's ruling that former director and minority shareholder John Textor's Eagle Football Holdings created a conflict in UEFA's multi-club ownership regulations due to its majority stake in Lyon, who also qualified for the Europa League.

UEFA rules bar any owner or co-owner from holding a controlling stake in more than one club in the same European competition. CAS confirmed that Palace missed the March 1 restructuring deadline, which requires measures such as owners putting shares into blind trusts in order to ensure compliance with multi-club ownership rules.

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"After considering the evidence, the Panel found that John Textor, founder of Eagle Football Holdings, had shares in CPFC and OL and was a Board member with decisive influence over both clubs at the time of UEFA’s assessment date," the CAS statement read.

Textor sold his 43% Palace stake to US pharmaceuticals billionaire and New York Jets owner Woody Johnson and quit his roles at Lyon in early July.

Lyon took precedence due to a higher Ligue 1 finish (6th) than Oliver Glasner’s side managed in the Premier League (12th).

UEFA rules state that should a club be removed from a competition, the next best-placed club in the top domestic league of its association will take its place - hence Forest's admission.

CAS added that it had also dismissed an argument from Palace "that they received unfair treatment in comparison to Nottingham Forest and Lyon".

"The Panel considered that the UEFA Regulations are clear and do not provide flexibility to clubs that are non-compliant on the assessment date, as CPFC claimed," the court added.

Palace had initially been handed a boost to their hopes of competing in the Europa League after Lyon received an administrative relegation to Ligue 2 following a review of their finances.

That decision initialy looked to have revoked their qualification for the European competition, but the French club successfully appealed the relegation, throwing Palace's Europa League status back in doubt.