The English FA Cup winner Crystal Palace has made an appointment against the exclusion from the Europa League at the International Sports Court CAS.
Despite sporting qualifications, the Londoners trained by team manager Oliver Glasner were excluded from the second most important European competition, since Olympique Lyon also qualified for the Europa League – and both clubs belong to the US investor John Textor.
“The parties are currently exchanging written statements in accordance with the arbitration board of the CAS for appeal procedures. Afterwards, a hearing will be scheduled,” it said in a statement by the CAS. It is an accelerated procedure, there should be a decision by August 11th.
Textor is the largest shareholder of Palace and owner of Lyon. He recently approved a deal to sell his Palace shares, but the UEFA believes that this step was too late. Because the French crisis club Lyon missed the forced relegation two weeks ago, the UEFA had to make a decision. Instead, Palace received a starting place in the UEFA Conference League.
Lyon preferred for the Europa League because the ex-champion in the league had achieved the better placement (6th) as a Palace (12th). If the decision has existed, Nottingham Forest, as the table seventh of the Premier League, receives the starting point in the Europa League.
The background for the decision is the regulations in the so-called “multi-club ownership” (possession or participation of an owner in several clubs). The UEFA rules state that clubs are not allowed to start in the same competition if “a natural or a legal person over more than one club in competition is carried out”. Among other things, this is to prevent games from being manipulated.