Crystal Palace complained bitterly when the club were demoted from the Europa League to the Conference League by UEFA – and have now won the competition.
Crystal Palace tried to charge the game with a lot of pathos. The Conference League final in Leipzig against Rayo Vallecano was the club’s first European final. Palace coach Oliver Glasner said: “We are 90 minutes away from making history. This is unknown territory, a European final. This is a moment we have built together.” Now Palace are a European Cup winner after beating Rayo Vallecano.
Crystal Palace is a club that has experienced a lot in its history, but has won little for a long time. That changed in 2025. Great emotions accompanied the 2025 FA Cup victory and now Crystal Palace are a European Cup winner. But there was a lot of trouble between the two titles. Because winning the FA Cup actually meant a place in the Europa League – actually.
Crystal Palace’s Jefferson Lerma with the trophy after winning the 2025 FA Cup
Prohibited structures – UEFA excluded Palace from the Europa League
Because UEFA excluded Crystal Palace from the competition and demoted the club to the Conference League. The reason: The American soccer investor John Textor owned Olympique Lyon in France and also had influence there through a stake in Crystal Palace.
This multiple ownership, called “Multi-Club Ownership” (MCO), was Palace’s downfall. Only one of the Textor clubs was allowed to play; for UEFA it was about the credibility of the competition. Lyon was given priority because of a better position in the league.
The crucial detail: Palace and Textor had failed to move the shares into an escrow account by the deadline. UEFA is keeping this option open to clubs from MCO networks in order to at least officially untangle them from each other for the season and let them play. A lot of trouble broke out.
Crystal Palace fans protest against UEFA
Massive protests against UEFA
“It’s like winning the lottery. Then you go to the counter – and you don’t get the winnings”said Steve Parish, the chairman of the club, whose fans protested massively against UEFA. “I don’t think anyone in football wants to see something like this: clubs that have legitimately qualified for a competition being excluded from that competition on the most ridiculous technicality imaginable.”
Steve Parish, chairman of Crystal Palace
Textor still sold its shares, but the deadline was missed and UEFA’s decision stood. Palace complained to the International Court of Arbitration for Sport and was rejected there too – the club was demoted from the Europa League to the Conference League. Other clubs were also not allowed to start as planned. Drogheda United from Ireland and Dunajská Streda from Slovakia were both not allowed to take part in the Conference League. But the most prominent case remained that of Palace.
Multi-Club Ownership
Multi-Club Ownership is the ownership or interest of one owner in multiple clubs. The potential benefits for owners and risks for competition go far beyond the suspicion of arranged games. Transfers within a network of multiple ownership clubs could be made at prices that reflect investors’ needs – rather than actual market values. The time can also be selected. In this way, taxes can be avoided or financial fair play rules can be adhered to, at least on paper. Clubs can be relegated to farm teams serving the top of their pyramid. For fans, the identity of their clubs can be lost. The Danish initiative “Play the game” recently collected a number of 236 clubs in Europe that are part of such networks. Most teams from Germany are largely protected from a complete takeover by the 50+1 rule
Conference League – from an annoyance to a stroke of luck
For a long time, the club played in the undesirable Conference League season. In qualifying there was a difficult win against Frederikstad from Norway (1:0/0:0). In the league phase, the team lost at home to AEK Larnaka from Cyprus and at Racing Strasbourg from France. The team lost direct qualification for the round of 16 with a 2-2 draw at home against Kuopion PS from Finland.
Crystal Palace’s Jaydee Canvot tries to control the ball during the game against AEK Larnaca
Palace also had a difficult time in the knockout round. Zrinjski Mostar from Bosnia-Herzegovina in the playoffs and in the round of 16 again AEK Larnaka got at least a draw against the Premier League club in the first leg. Only in the fourth final against AC Fiorentina and in the semi-final against Dynamo Kiev did Palace begin to convince to some extent – and ended up in the final in Leipzig, which the club then won.
Crystal Palace with the Conference League trophy
And suddenly the Conference League became popular, Crystal Palace fans invented a song for the season: “We’re on the way to Leipzig. How did we get there? I don’t know, I don’t care. All I know is: Palace is on the way!”
The irony: The win brings a place in the Europa League
With the win against Rayo Vallecano, the club has now won its first European Cup. Coach Oliver Glasner, who won the FA Cup and now the Conference League with Crystal Palace, said before the game that he wanted the win for a specific reason: “Then the players would play in the Europa League next year and we would get what we should have gotten this year.“
Oliver Glasner on the sidelines during the Conference League final
This is also a UEFA rule: the winner of the Conference League automatically plays in the Europa League the following season – unless no one has objected yet.
