Crystal Palace will play in the Conference League next season after their appeal against Uefa’s decision to demote them from the Europa League failed, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) has confirmed.
Palace had qualified for the Europa League through their stunning FA Cup victory over Man City, a historic first major trophy in the club’s history and one they followed up on with yesterday by winning the Community Shield.
However, Uefa ordered the Eagles to play in the third-tier European competition in July following a breach of its multi-club ownership rules. The club crucially missed a 1 March deadline to demonstrate that American co-owner John Textor, also a part-owner at Lyon, had no control or influence over more than one club in the same competition.
This decision has been upheld by Cas after an appeal was lodged by Palace last month, with it deemed Textor had “decisive influence” over both Palace and Lyon following a closed-door hearing on 8 August.
“After considering the evidence, the Panel found that John Textor, founder of Eagle Football Holdings, had shares in Crystal Palace and Lyon and was a board member with decisive influence over both clubs at the time of Uefa’s assessment date,” a statement from Cas read.
“The Panel also dismissed the argument by Crystal 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 Crystal Palace claimed.”
Nottingham Forest have benefited from the Eagles’ demotion, replacing them in the Europa League following their seventh-place league finish.
Uefa’s Club Financial Control Body initially decided Textor’s interest in both clubs meant only one could enter the Europa League, with Lyon’s higher league position of sixth edging out Palace, who finished the Premier League campaign in 12th.
Textor went on to sell his 42.9 per cent stake at Selhurst Park in a bid to save Palace’s Europa League status, with controversial New York Jets owner Woody Johnson completing the acquisition of the American’s shareholding last month in a deal believed to be worth close to £200m.
The move came too late to satisfy Uefa, however, with Palace forced to take their fight to CAS as their fans protested vehemently.
After hundreds of supporters made their feelings clear in an initial protest outside Selhurst Park, The Indepedent revealed that members of Palace ultras Holmesdale Fanatics – who organised the first march – travelled to Uefa’s HQ in Nyon, Switzerland to combat the perceived injustice head-on. They delivered a suitcase of fake money, which represented “the contradictions between their supposed ‘fundamental values’ of integrity and fairness, and the reality of their business methods and general conduct”, as described in a statement from the fan group.
Following the protest in Nyon, they travelled to the Lausanne headquarters of CAS to reiterate their desire to have the ruling overturned, just a couple of hours before CAS confirmed Palace had lodged an appeal against Uefa’s verdict.
But after an expedited procedure that last two and a half weeks, Palace’s fate has been sealed, with Cas coming to the conclusion that the demotion was justified.
The Conference League season starts on 2 October, with the draw for the league phase taking place on 29 August, when Palace will learn their first European opponents.
