Crystal Palace loses appeal over Europa League exclusion
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled that Nottingham Forest takes the spot Palace earned after beating Manchester City in last season's FA Cup final, and it is a blow to the club that beat Liverpool on Sunday in the Community Shield.
The problem stems from the fact that American businessman John Textor held 43 percent of Palace's shares until June of this year, while he is also a majority shareholder in Olympique Lyon, which has also qualified for the Europa League.
Palace claimed Textor no longer influenced the club, but missed a March deadline to show UEFA the club no longer had issues with multi-club ownership.
"Regulations are clear and do not provide flexibility to clubs that are non-compliant on the assessment date, as Palace claimed."
"Textor still had decisive influence over both clubs at the time of UEFA's assessment date," ruled CAS.
The decision means Palace will now play either Norwegian side Fredrikstad or Midtjylland of Denmark in the Conference League play-off round later this month, while Nottingham Forest goes directly to the Europa League group stage.
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