Crystal Palace to play in Conference League after losing appeal
The FA Cup winners will play their first European campaign in Uefa’s third-tier competition, with Nottingham Forest promoted to the Europa League instead
Crystal Palace will play in the Conference League this season after their appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) proved unsuccessful.
Uefa had ruled that Palace had breached multi-club ownership rules due to former majority shareholder John Textor owning the Premier League side and Lyon, who both qualified for the Europa League.
Palace challenged the decision at CAS, who ruled on Monday in favour of Uefa, Lyon and Nottingham Forest.
Why did Palace’s appeal fail?
The CAS panel ruled that Textor “was a board member with decisive influence over both clubs at the time of Uefa’s assessment date”, that Palace were not treated unfairly, as the club claimed, and that Uefa’s rules were “clear and do not provide flexibility to clubs that are non-compliant on the assessment date”.
A verdict posted on the CAS website stated: “CAS has dismissed an appeal by Crystal Palace against Uefa, Nottingham Forest and Lyon concerning a decision by Uefa to remove Palace from the Europa League 2025-2026 due to a breach of Uefa multi-club ownership regulations.
“As a result, Palace will be admitted to compete in the Conference League 2025-2026. The appeal sought to annul the decision by the Uefa Club Financial Control Body on 11 July 2025 which found Palace and Lyon non-compliant with multi club ownership regulations. Alongside the annulment of the decision, Palace requested readmission to the Europa League with Nottingham Forest or Lyon’s admission rejected.”
Palace lawyers presented their case in a behind-closed-doors hearing at CAS’s headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, last Friday.
They argued that Uefa rules were unfairly imposed on them and that the governing body was wrong to demote them to the Conference League and give their Europa League place, earned by winning the FA Cup in May, to Nottingham Forest.
Uefa had ruled that as American billionaire Textor owned majority stakes in Palace and Lyon, only the French side, who finished higher in the league table, could compete in next season’s Europa League.
Was CAS ruling fair?
Yet Palace lawyers pointed out that Uefa permitted Manchester City and Manchester United to compete in the same competitions as respective clubs under the same ownership, Girona and Nice.
RB Leipzig and Red Bull Salzburg were also allowed to play in the Champions League together in 2018.
Uefa previously allowed club owners to place conflicting clubs in a “blind trust”, but Textor missed the 1 March deadline to place his shares, since sold to Woody Johnson for £190m, in such a trust.
Palace lawyers, however, claimed that the European Club Association (ECA), a group of around 700 clubs, had told its members that the deadline could be extended to May 31. Palace are not a member of the ECA.
It was also argued during the hearing that though Textor was the majority shareholder at the time, he did not have overall influence as decisions were voted on with three other co-owners.
During that time Palace also did not benefit from the multi-club ownership model by sharing resources, expertise and data, lawyers said.
