Crystal Palace fans march on Selhurst Park to protest Europa League exclusion
The protest was organised by Palace's ultras fan group the Holmesdale Fanatics, who called the decision 'a terrible injustice for both our club and the game of football as a whole', in a call to arms for supporters to come together and make a statement.
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UEFA's Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) ruled on Friday that Palace had breached multi-club ownership rules due to Eagle Football chairman John Textor's involvement in Palace and Ligue 1 side Lyon, both of whom qualified for the Europa League — Palace by winning the FA Cup and Lyon by finishing sixth in Ligue 1.
That outcome, two months after Palace's Wembley final win over Manchester City, caused uproar within the club and its fanbase, with supporters also urged to write to UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin to make their feelings known and in an attempt to help put pressure on him to overturn the ruling.
Several hundred supporters gathered at south Norwood clocktower in south London and marched the half a mile distance to the club's stadium carrying banners with flares lit. There were chants against UEFA and in support of the club, who intend to appeal the decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport but are realistic about their prospects of success.
UEFA were not the only subject of fan ire, with derogatory chants directed at Textor and Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis.
Signs were held up including one demanding UEFA 'reinstate Palace (and) give us what we won', before the Fanatics gave a passionate speech from atop an entrance to the stadium and said they would send a delegation to UEFA's headquarters to continue the protest.
Chairman Steve Parish told Sky Sports News on Friday that Palace had 'been locked out of a European competition on the most ridiculous technicality', and urged supporters to explore avenues to protest, peacefully, against the decision.
'A team has won the oldest cup competition in the world and, with it, its first piece of silverware in the club's history,' read the Fanatics statement posted on social media. 'A dream not unique to Palace fans but one shared by supporters of clubs across the country.
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'To then have the deserved prize of Europa League football unjustifiably taken away is emblematic of a European football governing body disconnected from the true values that makes the sport adored by fans everywhere. It is indicative of why so many fans have fallen out of love with the modern game.
'We call this protest not just for Palace's position in the Europa League to be reinstated, but with all football fans in mind. Many clubs could be the next to be ruled against for lacking the historical prestige and financial resources to influence UEFA for their own gain.'
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