Crystal Palace to play in Conference League after CAS rules UEFA decision should stand following Europa League demotion

Crystal Palace will play in the UEFA Conference League after The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled UEFA's original decision to demote them from the Europa League will stand.

Palace, who beat Liverpool to win the Community Shield on Sunday, qualified for the Europa League by winning the FA Cup in May.

However, they were demoted to the Conference League by European football's governing body UEFA on July 11 after it determined that as of March 1, American businessman John Textor had control or influence at both Palace and French club Lyon.

Palace appealed against their demotion and Eagles chairman Steve Parish attended a 10-hour hearing in front of three CAS judges in Lausanne on Friday, but the Premier League club, who will now consider their legal options, have lost their appeal.

Nottingham Forest - who travel to Selhurst Park for Palace's first home league game on August 24, live on Sky Sports Super Sunday - are expected to take Palace's place in the Europa League.

A CAS media release read: "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.

"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.

"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."

UEFA declined to comment on the CAS panel's decision, while Palace did not make any immediate comment.

Textor has now sold his stake in Palace, with the purchase of his shares by New York Jets owner Woody Johnson completed in late July.

Palace chairman and co-owner Steve Parish, speaking after the Eagles beat Liverpool to lift the Community Shield, said his team would look for any alternative solutions should the verdict not go their way.

He said: "If we don't get the right outcome, then we will have to look if there's any steps after that."

Palace would have been granted direct entry to the Europa League league phase as FA Cup winners but now have to contend with a two-legged play-off against the losers of the Europa League qualifier between Fredrikstad and Midtjylland.

The first leg is scheduled to take place at Selhurst Park on August 21 and the away leg on August 28.

The league phase draws for the Europa and Conference League draws are in Monaco on August 29.
'CAS have decided that rules are rules'
Sky Sports News chief correspondent Kaveh Solhekol:

"This is terrible news for Crystal Palace fans because just three months ago they won the FA Cup at Wembley by beating Man City and the prize for winning the FA Cup is a place in the Europa League.

"That is a place that they earn, but of course the problem is that they've fallen foul of UEFA's controversial multi-club ownership rules and UEFA said that John Texter, the American businessman had shares in Palace and he's also got shares in Lyon.

"Both these clubs have qualified for the Europa League and UEFA said we can't have a situation where both these clubs are going to play in the Europa League, so they removed Palace and put them in the Conference League instead

"Palace appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport [CAS] in Lausanne, there was a 10-hour hearing in Switzerland on Friday. I was there, Steve Parish, the Palace chairman was there. In the morning I think he was quietly confident that maybe they'd get a fair hearing at CAS and they'd get their place in the Europa League back, but obviously we've just had the news that Palace have lost their appeal.

"CAS have decided that rules are rules. John Texter owned shares in Lyon and he also owned shares in Palace - he had until March 1 to do something about it. If he placed his Palace shares in a blind trust by March 1, then Palace would still have their place in the Europa League.

"He didn't do that for whatever reason and guess what? He's not involved at Palace anymore either because he sold his shares to another American businessman, Woody Johnson.

"So you've got this incredible situation where Palace, who absolutely definitively are not part of a multi-club ownership group, have been banned from playing in the Europa League by UEFA and their place will probably be taken by Nottingham Forest.

"Of course, bad news for Palace fans, great news for Forest fans and I think what Forest will be saying is rules are rules. It's written there in black and white. Palace have broken UEFA's multi-club ownership rules. They had until March 1 to do something about it. They didn't do something about it. We finished above them in the Premier League. We finished seventh, they finished 12th. So really, really sorry. Bad news for Palace fans, but we are now going to be playing in the Europa League. We just have to wait for confirmation from UEFA about that."
A timeline of Palace's European situation
March 1: UEFA's deadline passes for clubs in multi-club groups to change their ownership structure.

At that point, Crystal Palace were 12th in the Premier League and in the FA Cup fifth round - a competition that still had Manchester City, Newcastle, Manchester United, Brighton, Nottingham Forest and Fulham in it.

April 30: It is revealed Evangelos Marinakis has removed himself from control of Nottingham Forest, putting his shares into a blind trust when it looked like Forest would qualify for the Champions League alongside Olympiakos, also owned by the Greek billionaire.

May 17: Crystal Palace win the FA Cup by beating Manchester City 1-0, thereby qualifying for the Europa League.

On the same day, Lyon qualify for the Europa League on the final day of the Ligue 1 season. However, Lyon face the prospect of UEFA sanctions for failing to meet spending rules.

May 25: Forest fail to qualify for the Champions League on the final day of the Premier League season but reach the Conference League instead, so Marinakis takes back control of the club.

June 3: UEFA meet with Palace executives in Switzerland to discuss whether the Eagles are able to play in Europe next season. John Textor and Steve Parish attend the meeting to fight Palace's case.

June 9: It is revealed Forest have written to UEFA warning that Palace could be in breach of UEFA's multi-club ownership rules.

June 25: It is announced that Lyon have been relegated from Ligue 1 after failing to convince authorities they have resolved their financial difficulties. The French club immediately say they will appeal the decision.

July 9: Lyon's appeal is upheld, meaning they are reinstated to Ligue 1 and their spot in the Europa League is confirmed - bringing back doubt about Palace's Europa League spot.

July 11: Palace's demotion to the Conference League is announced by UEFA. The Eagles say they will appeal the decision through the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

August 8: The CAS appeal begins in Lausanne, Switzerland - exactly one week before the start of the new Premier League season.

August 11: Crystal Palace will play in the Conference League after CAS ruled UEFA's original decision to demote them from the Europa League will stand.