Crystal Palace, the winner of the FA Cup and Super Cup, has lost an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) regarding the case of expulsion from the Europa League. It is reported by ESPN.
CAS upheld UEFA’s decision to relegate the current FA Cup winner 2024/25 from the Europa League due to violation of the criteria for multi-club ownership. In European competitions, Crystal Palace will play in the Conference League, where it will start playing in the qualifying playoffs.
Instead of Crystal Palace, Nottingham Forest will play in the main round of the Europa League, which in the previous season of the Premier League took seventh place and received the right to play in the qualifying round of the Conference League.
Crystal Palace, which triumphed in the new season and in the English Super Cup, defeating Liverpool in a penalty shootout (3-2), won a direct ticket to the Europa League for the first time in history with a 1-0 victory over Manchester City in the FA Cup final. It was the first major trophy for the club in its 120-year history.
FA Cup winner loses appeal against relegation from Europa League: who will play instead
Crystal Palace, the winner of the FA Cup and Super Cup, has lost an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) regarding the case of expulsion from the Europa League. It is reported by ESPN.
CAS upheld UEFA’s decision to relegate the current FA Cup winner 2024/25 from the Europa League due to violation of the criteria for multi-club ownership. In European competitions, Crystal Palace will play in the Conference League, where it will start playing in the qualifying playoffs.
Instead of Crystal Palace, Nottingham Forest will play in the main round of the Europa League, which in the previous season of the Premier League took seventh place and received the right to play in the qualifying round of the Conference League.
Crystal Palace, which triumphed in the new season and in the English Super Cup, defeating Liverpool in a penalty shootout (3-2), won a direct ticket to the Europa League for the first time in history with a 1-0 victory over Manchester City in the FA Cup final. It was the first major trophy for the club in its 120-year history.
Crystal Palace’s UEFA case for relegation from the Europa League: what we know
According to UEFA rules, clubs owned by the same person or organization cannot compete in the same European Cup competitions to avoid a conflict of interest.
43% of Crystal Palace’s shares are owned by American businessman John Textor, whose Eagle Football group also owns the majority of shares in French Lyon (77%).
At the end of the 2024/25 season, Lyon finished sixth in Ligue 1 and won a ticket to the group stage of the Europa League. As a result, Crystal Palace was threatened with expulsion from the European Cup: the French team was a priority for UEFA, as it ranked higher in the championship (6th place in Ligue 1) than the Eagles (12th place in the Premier League).
The decision was postponed due to a separate case of Lyon: due to financial irregularities, the club was first relegated to the second division of the French championship, but after an appeal, the verdict was overturned. If the decision to relegate Lyon had remained in force, they would have agreed with UEFA to be expelled from the Europa League, which would have cleared the way for Peles to play in the tournament.
In order for the English club to participate in the Europa League, Textor agreed to sell its 43 percent stake in Crystal Palace to New York Jets owner Woody Johnson. However, this deal is not yet finalized and will be concluded well after the UEFA deadline for resolving this issue, which expired on March 1.
In the playoffs of the Conference League qualifying round, Crystal Palace will play against the loser of the third stage of the Europa League qualifiers between Fredrikstad of Norway and Midtjylland of Denmark. The first matches of the 2025/26 Conference League qualifiers will take place on August 21, and the return matches on August 28.
Before that, the Eagles will play the first match of the season in the Premier League – on Sunday, August 17, they will meet Chelsea.
As a reminder, a new Champions League qualifying round has begun. The new season of the tournament will start in mid-September.
