Crystal Palace’s appeal against UEFA’s demotion of them from the Europa League to the Conference League has been denied by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
The Eagles secured their first season of European football in May, beating Manchester City in the FA Cup final, but Lyon’s last gasp qualification for the Europa League three a spanner in the works. At the time both clubs shared owners with American businessman John Textor holding a 43% stake in the south London club, one which he has since sold to New York Jets owner Woody Johnson.
UEFA concluded that the two clubs playing in the same competition would breach their multi-club ownership rules with Lyon given priority as they had qualified through league finish. Palace argued against the decision, insisting that Textor did not have a meaningful role in the club and noting that it would have been premature for them to address the Textor situation by the initial March 1 deadline, a point when they were playing in the FA Cup fifth round and had no other realistic path to European qualification. Palace are also understood to have argued that updates had been sent to the wrong email address, and to have claimed that there was an additional deadline of May 31 for the setting up of a blind trust.
Ultimately, however, CAS sided with UEFA, Nottingham Forest and Lyon. The three person panel concluded that Palace had not received unfair treatment compared to the other clubs in the case. CAS also stated that 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.”
It was further concluded that Textor did have an influence at both clubs.
Palace are now due to play the losers of the Europa League qualifier between Norway’s Fredrikstad or Midtjylland of Denmark in a playoff to reach the league phase of the Conference League. If, as is expected, Nottingham Forest are confirmed by UEFA as taking Palace’s place in the Europa League then they will automatically qualify for the league phase.
Speaking after his side’s win over Liverpool in Sunday’s Community Shield, Palace chairman Steve Parish had expressed confidence that the appeal would be successful. In the event it was not he said, “we’ll have to look at if there’s any steps after that.”
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