Crystal Palace LOSE appeal over Europa League ban after furious UEFA fallout

Crystal Palace will NOT play in the Europa League this season after losing their appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport. A panel of three heard the FA Cup winners' case, as they looked to fight their demotion to the Conference League in a controversial decision by UEFA.

Nottingham Forest had been promoted to the Europa League as a result of UEFA's original decision, with Palace dropping down to the third-tier European club competition. A verdict was delivered on Monday and the decision has been upheld, with the judgement adding that both sides bear their own legal costs.

Despite winning the cup, Palace fell foul of UEFA's rules relating to multi-club ownership due to part-owner John Textor's role at Lyon. Textor has since sold his stake in the Premier League club, but Palace had missed a deadline to fall in line with UEFA regulations.

With the clubs missing the deadline to prove individuals didn't hold control or influence over more than one side, league position took precedence. This meant Lyon - who finished higher in Ligue 1 than Palace did in the Premier League - kept their Europa League place and Palace were forced to appeal to the CAS.

The case which formed Palace's appeal featured a number of elements. Part of their argument concerned the fact that the March 1 deadline to fall in line was not necessarily set in stone, while they also didn't get a memo received by clubs who are members of independent body the European Club Association.

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"The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has dismissed an appeal by Crystal Palace FC (CPFC) against UEFA, Nottingham Forest FC and Olympique Lyonnais (OL) concerning a decision by UEFA to remove CPFC from the UEFA Europa League 2025/2026 due to a breach of UEFA multi club ownership regulations. As a result, CPFC will be admitted to compete in the UEFA Conference League 2025/2026," a CAS statement read.

"The appeal sought to annul the decision by the UEFA Club Financial Control Body on 11 July 2025 which found CPFC and OL non-compliant with multi club ownership regulations. Alongside the annulment of the decision, CPFC requested readmission to the UEFA Europa League with Nottingham Forest or OL's admission rejected.

An in-person hearing took place at CAS headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland on 8 August 2025. The CAS Panel was composed of Prof. Luigi Fumagalli as President (Italy), Mr Manfred P. Nan (the Netherlands) and Mr Olivier Carrard (Switzerland). After considering the evidence, the Panel found that John Textor, founder of Eagle Football Holdings, had shares in CPFC and OL and was a Board member with decisive influence over both clubs at the time of UEFA's assessment date.

"The Panel also dismissed the argument by CPFC that they received unfair treatment in comparison to Nottingham Forest and OL. The Panel considered that the UEFA Regulations are clear and do not provide flexibility to clubs that are non-compliant on the assessment date, as CPFC claimed.

"This was an expedited procedure, with an operative decision rendered two and a half weeks after the appeal, filed on 21 July 2025. Unless Parties request confidentiality, a full Award (with grounds) will be made available on the CAS website in due course."

“We believe, for a number of reasons, it isn’t the right decision and we have put that case forward strongly. We think we have a very solid case," Palace chairman Steve Parish told beIN Sports ahead of the Community Shield on Sunday.

In the lead-up to Sunday's game at Wembley, Eagles manager Oliver Glasner also appeared cautiously optimistic. The Austrian also said he didn't believe his squad had been distracted by the uncertainty.

"I can't see anything why we should be demoted or why we should stay in the Conference League. If you get punished when you feel innocent, that's tough," Glasner said at his pre-match press conference.

He added: "The first meeting we had when we met, we just mentioned it once. Our slogan is to focus on things we can influence and when we get the final verdict on August 11, we will accept it. The players have done very well, the whole pre-season they've trained and worked very hard."

Is this a fair outcome? Have your say in the comments section.

Palace came out on top at Wembley on Sunday, beating Premier League champions Liverpool on penalties after a 2-2 draw. Justin Devenny scored the winning spot-kick, with Jean-Philippe Mateta and Ismaila Sarr scoring Palace's goals in regulation time.

"We call it the emotional reward: standing in front of the fans, having this feeling – you can’t buy it with any money in the world," Glasner said after the win. “The players deserved it today and our fans deserved it in the same way, because they’re always supporting us from the beginning to the end, even when we were down.

"They were always pushing the team forward and it’s a great connection. In the end we all were rewarded – and this is what then stays forever."

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