UEFA postpones decision on Crystal Palace's European place
Outgoing Palace shareholder John Textor has an interest in French club Lyon, who qualified for the same competition.
Palace are waiting to learn if they can play in next season's Europa League (Rafal Oleksiewicz/PA)
UEFA announced on Monday it needed more time to make a ruling and said Lyon had reached a settlement which would exclude them from European competition next season if a decision to relegate them to the French second tier was upheld.
That relegation is the subject of an appeal by the French club.
Lyon were relegated due to financial difficulties by French football's financial regulator, the DNCG.
Last week it was announced Textor had agreed to sell his shareholding in Palace to New York Jets owner Woody Johnson. It was announced on Monday he had resigned from his leadership positions at Lyon as well.
Whether any of that assists Palace's chances remains to be seen.
Palace's case has been examined under article five of UEFA's club competition regulations, which state that as of March 1 this year, clubs wishing to be eligible for qualification in 2025-26 had to be able to demonstrate that no individual or legal entity had control or influence over more than one club participating in the same competition.
Where two or more clubs fail to meet the criteria, only one can be entered, with Lyon's better league position appearing to put them ahead of Palace.
Olympique Lyonnais has signed an agreement with UEFA's club financial control body
 The statement ⬇️https://t.co/6I0mLib0fx
— Olympique Lyonnais 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@OL_English) June 27, 2025
Lyon said in a statement the settlement agreement they had signed with UEFA's club financial and control body (CFCB) meant the club 'could therefore participate in next season's Europa League, subject to a favourable outcome of the appeal of the DNCG decision'.
That would indicate Lyon's participation hinges on the success of their appeal, but what is unclear is whether UEFA might admit Palace as well if it is satisfied requirements have been met under multi-club ownership rules – or only admit Palace if Lyon's relegation is upheld.
Palace have been contacted for comment.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
6 minutes ago
- The Guardian
EU may allow carbon credits from developing countries to count towards climate goals
EU member states may be allowed to count controversial carbon credits from developing countries towards their climate targets, the European climate commissioner has said as states meet for a crucial decision on the issue. The EU will discuss on Wednesday its target for slashing carbon dioxide by 2040, with an expected cut of 90% compared with 1990 levels, in line with the bloc's overarching target of reaching net zero by mid-century. If agreed by member states, and passed by the EU parliament, that goal is then supposed to be translated into an international target – known as a nationally determined contribution (NDC) – pegged to 2035, under the Paris agreement. But green groups are furious over proposals that would allow part of the target to be made up from buying carbon offsets from overseas. They argue that the EU should meet its targets domestically. More than 130 groups wrote to express 'extreme concern' over the proposals last month. Gareth Redmond-King, the international lead at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit thinktank, said: 'There is no need for them to use credits. If such a major emitter is not going as far as they demonstrably could with emissions cuts, then the overall global ambition is lower than it could be. This would risk undermining the EU's reputation for climate leadership at a time when that leadership is most needed.' Wopke Hoekstra, the EU climate commissioner, told the Guardian that developing countries were keen to gain EU financing through carbon credits, for projects such as tree planting or forest restoration, and that it was possible to ensure that such offsets resulted in genuine emissions reductions. He said the possibility of allowing this was 'potentially very attractive'. 'The planet doesn't care about where we take emissions out of the air,' he said. 'You need to take action everywhere, but it certainly also helps to do that both here and elsewhere.' He said developing countries in Africa and Latin America were interested in carbon credit projects. 'There is huge appetite from our friends in the global south,' he said. But such projects would have to be in addition to actions developing countries were already taking to meet their own emissions targets, rather than replacing them. 'If it is additional, I think it is a great idea,' he said. 'And what we will not have a shortage of is ambition to do stuff at the same time in Europe. There's no one who doubts the very significant level of ambition [for emissions cuts within the EU].' Hoekstra acknowledged there had been problems in the past with carbon credits that were found to be worthless. 'It all stands or falls with the integrity of such a system, where certification, verification [of carbon credits], is absolutely essential,' he said. 'But humanity has solved more difficult problems.' Wednesday's talks on a 2040 emissions target could also be derailed by a small number of member states, led by France, mooting 'decoupling' the domestic target from the NDC. They argue that the NDC, with its 2035 emissions target, could be delivered in September without the 2040 figure being agreed, implying that a less ambitious 2040 goal could be agreed at a later date. Hoekstra was firm. 'We will come up this Wednesday with our 2040 climate target, and from that we will derive an ambitious NDC,' he said. 'And I am confident that we will deliver that exact number by September, as we were asked for by the secretary general of the UN.' Sign up to Down to Earth The planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essential after newsletter promotion All countries are expected to lay out their NDC before Cop30, the crunch climate summit in Brazil this November, but few have yet done so. China's NDC will be crucial, especially as Donald Trump has taken the US out of the Paris agreement. Hoekstra attacked China for planning to build new coal-fired power plants, which he said was 'against what was agreed at Cop28', when countries resolved to 'transition away from fossil fuels'. He said: 'Building new ones is a very bad idea.' It is unlikely that the NDCs presented at Cop30 in Belém will be sufficient to prevent temperatures breaching the vital threshold of 1.5C above preindustrial levels contained in the Paris agreement. The Brazilian hosts of the meeting have said NDCs will not be negotiated at Cop30. But Hoekstra said the summit must come up with an answer for how to bridge any gap between the commitments made and the 1.5C limit. 'It's difficult to leave that proverbial elephant in the room and not discuss it. We do need to have political space to discuss the impact of the NDCs and the way forward.'
South Wales Argus
22 minutes ago
- South Wales Argus
Hat's off to Draper who looks the real deal at Wimbledon
There's been a Wimbledon singles champion in a cloche hat, a French beret and even a straw boater, while Serena Williams likes to claim she's the only winner to wear a tiara. Jack Draper is looking to become the first to win in a back-to-front baseball cap, perhaps not realising that Andy Roddick tried and failed in three finals. These early rounds of Wimbledon can feel like going through the motions for the top players and headwear stats aside, the British number one dominated the figures that mattered to progress with ease against Argentina's Sebastian Baez. Baez wore a bandana by the way, a box stylishly ticked long ago by Pat Cash and Roger Federer, but retired hurt when trailing 6-2 6-2 2-1, the match already way out of reach. There's actually quite a lot of Roddick in Draper, a powerful serve and strong forehand and an ability to grind out wins from the baseline. Roddick is a big fan too, predicting the British world number four will be the next new Grand Slam champion, perhaps as early as next week. Next up for Draper is Croatia's Marin Cilic, a finalist here seven years ago now ranked 79 places below the home hope, though the two have never played. But, in truth, the quarter-finals - where Novak Djokovic could await - should be the minimum return for this fortnight in Costa Del Merton. "I wanted to play a bit longer, I was really getting my tennis together and it's no way to win like that," said Draper. "I'm trying to focus on the things that I can control, just keep doing the right things to play the best tennis I can and I'm really looking forward to the next week or so. "I'm not thinking matches ahead, everyone in this draw can play incredible tennis and we've seen already this week that everyone has the chance to cause an upset."
The Herald Scotland
32 minutes ago
- The Herald Scotland
Hat's off to Draper who looks the real deal at Wimbledon
There's been a Wimbledon singles champion in a cloche hat, a French beret and even a straw boater, while Serena Williams likes to claim she's the only winner to wear a tiara. Jack Draper is looking to become the first to win in a back-to-front baseball cap, perhaps not realising that Andy Roddick tried and failed in three finals. These early rounds of Wimbledon can feel like going through the motions for the top players and headwear stats aside, the British number one dominated the figures that mattered to progress with ease against Argentina's Sebastian Baez. Baez wore a bandana by the way, a box stylishly ticked long ago by Pat Cash and Roger Federer, but retired hurt when trailing 6-2 6-2 2-1, the match already way out of reach. There's actually quite a lot of Roddick in Draper, a powerful serve and strong forehand and an ability to grind out wins from the baseline. Roddick is a big fan too, predicting the British world number four will be the next new Grand Slam champion, perhaps as early as next week. Next up for Draper is Croatia's Marin Cilic, a finalist here seven years ago now ranked 79 places below the home hope, though the two have never played. But, in truth, the quarter-finals - where Novak Djokovic could await - should be the minimum return for this fortnight in Costa Del Merton. "I wanted to play a bit longer, I was really getting my tennis together and it's no way to win like that," said Draper. "I'm trying to focus on the things that I can control, just keep doing the right things to play the best tennis I can and I'm really looking forward to the next week or so. "I'm not thinking matches ahead, everyone in this draw can play incredible tennis and we've seen already this week that everyone has the chance to cause an upset."
