CAS rejects Crystal Palace’s appeal against demotion to Europa Conference League
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has rejected Crystal Palace’s appeal against their demotion from the Europa League to the Europa Conference League, confirming the club’s participation in Europe’s third-tier competition for the upcoming season.
The verdict comes after Crystal Palace beat Liverpool on penalties to win the FA Community Shield at Wembley.
The Eagles were initially handed a deadline on 1 March to show UEFA proof of multi-club ownership restructuring, but the club missed it, and later in July, the club submitted an appeal to CAS against UEFA, which issued the punishment, as well as Lyon and Nottingham Forest.
The CAS ruling stated that UEFA’s regulations leave no room for exceptions for clubs that are not compliant by the official assessment date, a situation Crystal Palace were in.
They concluded that American businessman John Textor, who owned a 43% stake in Palace until selling it in June and is the majority owner of Lyon, also Europa League qualifiers, still held decisive influence over both clubs at the time of UEFA’s review, despite Palace’s claims.
The panel also dismissed the club’s argument that they were treated unfairly compared to Nottingham Forest and Lyon.
Under UEFA rules, specifically Article 5.1 and 5.2 of the Club Competitions Regulations, which are designed to prevent collusion, clubs under significant control or influence by the same person or entity are not allowed to compete in the same European competition.
Palace insisted that Textor no longer had decisive influence at the club, but UEFA did not accept their defence.
As a result, Palace will now take on either Norwegian side Fredrikstad or Denmark’s Midtjylland in the Conference League play-off round later this month.
Crystal Palace qualified for the Europa League after winning the FA Cup in May against Manchester City but were later demoted by UEFA for breaching multi-club ownership rules.
The club’s appeal failed, potentially costing £20 million in revenue and impacting transfer plans, including key players such as Marc Guehi and Eberechi Eze, linked to other clubs.
Concerns were first raised by Nottingham Forest, whose owner, Evangelos Marinakis, avoided similar sanctions by diluting his control of the Premier League side in April before the assessment date.
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