Crystal Palace face wait over Europa League ruling
Crystal Palace are expected to have to wait until the end of the month to find out if they are able to play in the 2025-26 Europa League, according to sources with knowledge of the process.The Eagles hierarchy travelled to Switzerland on Tuesday to discuss with Uefa officials about their participation in the competition.Uefa rules forbid individuals from having control of more than one club in the same competition to avoid conflicts of interest.Eagle Football - the multi-club group owned by John Textor which includes a minority shareholding in Palace - owns a majority stake in Ligue 1 side Lyon, who have also qualified for next season's competition.Palace are arguing that Textor - who has repeatedly tried to sell his stake with the club - does not have decisive control.League places are used to determine who gets to play in the competition and given the French side finished sixth, they get priority over Palace, who ended 12th in the Premier League.The original feeling was that the decision about their participation would come in the next week but sources now say that a ruling will come towards the end of June.
How did Palace get here?
Palace qualified for the Europa League by beating Manchester City to win the FA Cup.Lyon finished sixth in the French top flight to initially gain a spot in the Conference League, but were promoted to the Europa League competition after Paris St-Germain - already qualified for the Champions League - won the Coupe de France.Through Eagle Football, Textor - who initially invested £90m into Crystal Palace in 2021 - owns around 45% of the club and 90% of Lyon.The American was appointed a director and joined co-owner Steve Parish, Josh Harris and David Blitzer on the board.In January 2022, he invested in Brazilian club Botafogo and Belgian side RWD Molenbeek. Eagle Football still has controlling interests in both sides.He became the owner of Lyon in June 2022.Because Eagle Football has only has a 45% stake in Palace, the club is not part of the group's multi-club organisation. Palace have not signed a player from any of those clubs, although Jake O'Brien, now at Everton, did move to Lyon from their academy.Textor has tried to purchase a controlling stake in Palace in the past because it is thought he would prefer to have overall control of the club.However, he has more recently tried to buy Everton and also sought a buyer for his Palace shares.In an interview with the BBC last year, he said he does not run Palace - chairman and co-owner Parish does - although he can share his views.He also conceded the pair disagree on their views over multi-club ownership.Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis recently diluted his control at the club by placing his shares in a blind trust, when it looked like both Forest and Olympiakos - another club the Greek businessman owned - may both qualify for the Champions League.But sources close to Eagle Football believe putting those Palace shares in a 'blind trust' is not an option because Textor and Eagle Football do not have decisive influence over the Selhurst Park outfit.Crystal Palace and Uefa have both been approached for comment.
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