July 23 – Crystal Palace have taken their fight with UEFA over their demotion from the Europa League to the Conference League to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) with an appeal.
On Tuesday, CAS, the highest court in sports, confirmed that the London club had appealed against the European confederation as well as against Olympique Lyon and Nottingham Forrest. The court stated that an expedited appeal will produce an outcome no later than August 11, a month after the Eagles were punished for breaching multi-club ownership rules because of the club’s links to Lyon through John Textor.
Under UEFA rules, clubs owned by the same person or entity cannot compete in the same competition if the owners have ‘decisive influence’. Palace have requested an annulment of the decision by UEFA’s financial control body and readmission to the Europa League in place of either Nottingham Forest or Lyon.
The Premier League outfit won a spot in the Europa League, the continent’s second-tier competition, by claiming their first-ever major trophy, the FA Cup. However, Lyon have also qualified for the competition. The European governing body had set a deadline of March 1 for Palace to show proof of multi-club ownership restructuring, a deadline the club missed. The FA Cup final took on May 17, but UEFA demoted Palace to the third tier of European club competitions.
Textor sold his 43% stake in Palace to Woody Johnson, the owner of the New York Jets, after the March 1 deadline had passed. He also resigned as chairman from Lyon as the French club got demoted by the French financial watchdog to Ligue 2 because of financial problems. However, that demotion was later overturned.
Forest are expected to replace the Eagles in the Europa League if the punishment stands. UEFA regulation 4.10 states that “a club that is not admitted to the competition is replaced by the next-best-placed club in the top domestic championship of the same association…”
Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish has called the club’s demotion “one of the greatest injustices” in the history of European football.
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