By appointment
Crystal Palace must not start in the Europa League
Updated on 11.08.2025 – 12:56 p.m.Reading time: 2 min.
Crystal Palace was allowed to celebrate a triumph on Sunday. The day after, however, disillusionment takes place due to a CAS judgment.
The English FA Cup winner Crystal Palace must finally go to the Conference League. The International Sports Court of CAS dismissed the Londoner appointment and confirmed the exclusion from the Europa League despite sporting qualifications. The European Football Union (UEFA) had made this decision because Olympique Lyon had also qualified for the second most important European Cup competition-and both clubs belong to US investor John Textor. Instead, Nottingham Forest takes up the starting point in the Europa League.
The CAS announced on Monday that the trial was found last Friday that Textor “had shares in both clubs and was a member of the board at the time of the UEFA evaluation, had the decisive influence on both clubs”. The UEFA regulations are “clear” and did not “leave a scope”. Crystal Palace was not treated unfairly to Lyon and Nottingham.
Textor is the largest shareholder of Palace and owner of Lyon. He recently approved a deal for the sale of his Palace shares, but the UEFA believes that this step was too late. Because the French crisis club Lyon had escaped the forced relegation, the UEFA had to make a decision. Lyon preferred for the Europa League because the ex-champion in the league had achieved the better placement (6th) as a Palace (12th). In contrast, the London appointment trained by team manager Oliver Glasner had lodged the CAS.
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.